I agree with your general sentiment that teachers deserve a decent salary. The problem is, the other things you mentioned, lesson planning, homework grading, counseling parents, that's now all done during their regular "business hours", unlike my generation where teachers did much of that after school and on their own time.
The big problem right now is that teachers "can't" get the salaries they deserve, so they're taking the perks elsewhere. As a result the education of future generations is suffering drastically.
It's not all the teachers' fault though. Parents hold just as much to blame because they (we) seem to have forgotten the role we're supposed to play in our own children's educations. Parents want teachers to do the parenting and the teaching and it simply doesn't (and shouldn't) work that way.
In what world do most teachers have a Bachelors, Masters, and teaching cert? Seriously. Most of the primary and secondary education teachers I know have a Bachelors degree and a teaching cert, which basically came as an add-on test to their Bachelors degree.
Of the dozen or so teachers I know personally 1 has Masters degree, and 1 has PhD in Math Education. (His specialty is teaching teachers to teach math--IE he's a college professor who happens to be teaching at a high school right now.) It may be the norm where you live, but "most" teachers definitely do not hold multiple degrees. Sure a chunk of them do, especially if they have any interest in teaching at college level, but it's far from most.
Please show me one place that doesn't have private education?
Removing private education from "the system" might help but it won't fix the problem. To fix things, we have to refocus on teaching children at an appropriate level. Not everyone is (or should be) destined for a college education. Not everyone wants to be a lawyer/doctor/engineer/whatever. We've started railroading our kids into believing the only way to success is through academia, and that's bullshit. As a result the people who have different interests (such as vocational careers) are treated as second and third class citizens and are not taught things practical for them to know in the name of "progress".
This isn't entirely the teachers union's fault but it is having an impact. My daughter's school literally spends 1/3 less time in class than I did at the same education level. Why? Because teachers don't hold parent teacher conferences at night any more, they hold them during the school day, for multiple days. They also hold them more often. Teachers used to get one "teacher work day" to prep for report cards each quarter. Now they get at least one per month and often a second half day the day prior.
The education system is broken but it's not because we have "too much" private education in this country. We've just become too complacent about education and those who aren't are often "helicopter parents" which brings a whole new set of problems.
Power consumption would be my first guess. Second would be the fact that you won't get much better playback of any video from multiple reads so it's only good for reading data and then only if you have enough buffer space and fast enough bus to actually do something productive with that data.
We would almost certainly know when and approximately where any large enough celestial "body" would hit to forewarn at least the government of said nations, if not the citizens.
We are pretty good at tracking things in the sky these days simply because we're worried about your scenario. Fear not, we won't be accidentally involved in a nuclear war. We'll handle that all by ourselves, the old fashioned way-some asshole will act stupid.
I've never seen a single H1-B for anyone that wasn't a skilled (read college educated) worker. Janitors, secretaries, and other positions generally aren't hired from these pools because they aren't any cheaper to pay, and for marketing and sales, most people don't want "foreigners" working in those departments because too many ignorant people complain that they have accents etc.
Feel free to show me examples of where I'm wrong and I'll concede your point, but my experience has never shown any of your implications to be accurate.
Please read my reply to Nursie. You are correct that my post implies that, but it's not my intent to suggest that they aren't important at all, just that I think there are other issues more important on which to base my national vote.
I agree, they aren't completely frivolous concerns, and I said they aren't black and white issues. Obviously I don't think everyone is like me, and I wouldn't want them to be. (We'd be a very boring society if we were all the same.) My point was that while there are more, shall we say "urgent" matters, I put the little annoyances on the back burner. I actually get more worked up about the issues that affect me directly (I had a conversation with my tattoo artist the other day about copyright infringement because kinkos wouldn't make copies for him of artwork so he could use it as reference) but in the big picture these are fights that I don't base my presidential votes upon because I think they need to be fought at a local, grass roots, level.
My post may not have worded that as clearly as I intended, but it's just not a priority for me at the national level because invariably it's the local implementation that has the most impact on me as a citizen.
How in the world do you define "largely" if you think tech jobs will be "largely filled"?
Seriously, H1-B visas can only encompass a relatively small percentage of the work force (something between 15-33% depending on company size for H1B dependent employers.) Yes 1/3 of jobs is a high percentage, but most companies don't qualify for that level of H1-B employees, and furthermore, most can't afford the fees associated with the paperwork, even if you consider reduced wages, which are technically not allowed.
Copyright infringer? Not really-doesn't apply. Pot smoker? Nope-doesn't apply. Violent video games? Sorry, no games for me, I have more work to do and I like to play outside. Don't think they should be banned, but don't have a real concern if they are either. Porn? Off the internets? Won't happen because it drives a huge portion of our economy whether its opponents want to admit it or not.
How about real issues, like the economy, war, trade deficits, equality of education and rights for all of our citizens. These are real concerns I have, not frivolous adolescent worries like whether they're going to make me stop sharing my music. I vote based on these issues, and it's not black and white. It's never black and white, even for the issues you mentioned, but they're certainly not high on my priority list of things to think about when voting this November.
Sorry, I missed the screen size difference. Fingerprint readers are a gimmick and don't add any real value, in my opinion. The MS Works, similarly, doesn't add much value, but is arguably better than the apps available built into OS X.
While I agree Apple has room for improvement, and I don't like the way they deal with the support forums, I've had pretty decent luck when actually talking to a real person about issues.
The hardware is the same, so saying it's "problematic" won't matter no matter which vendor you buy from.
Warranty, as far as I know, is comparable to Dell, and Sony though I'm not 100% sure about that.
I don't buy Apple accessories because they generally work with third party "accessories", by which I assume you mean hard drives, printers, and the like. I've never had any problem using any of those devices with any Apples I've ever had to work with in the past.
Apple machines can also be found cheaper than at the Apple store, though they are usually refurbished so it's not really making a fair comparison. The deals from Dell are definitely much cheaper if you can get $200-$500 off.
Again, $170 difference. More significant than the Dell, but certainly not "hugely overpriced" as many people would have you believe.
I think that still falls in the realm of personal preference between the two operating systems and software options, but the 6 cell battery is likely a big bonus and at least the HP comes with some installed "entertainment" applications that could compete with the iLife suite.
The only thing I added was the white color because the black color is not standard for the mac. LIke, being like, it's still only $100 difference. I'm not sure what else there is to "jack up the price" that you didn't include.
Quibble all you want but at that price, and the differences in the software, it's still a personal preference issue.
I'm not sure why you think I had any incentive to "jack up the price" but you're wrong.
If you have yet to see it actually happen you haven't actually spec'd out comparable systems in the last 3 or 4 years. It's easier now than ever to compare because you can actually buy the same hardware options.
For fun, here's what I came up with today:
From Dell: 13.3" Alpine White Intel® Coreâ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache) Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition Standard Display with 2.0 Megapixel Webcam 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive) Intel® Integrated GMA X3100 Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR) 10/100 Ethernet 37Whr Lithium Ion Battery (4 cell) High Definition Audio 2.0 Biometric Fingerprint Reader McAfee SecurityCenter 15-months 1Yr In-Home Service, P+L,24x7 Phone Support Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr
Price: $1254
From Apple: 13" Macbook White 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 3MB shared L2 cache 13.3-inch glossy widescreen and iSight camera OS X (Panther) 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) Dual Layer Superdrive dvd burner (DVD+/-RW Drive) Intel® Integrated GMA X3100 Integrated Bluetooth Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n Gigabit Ethernet port 4 cell Li-Ion battery Built in Audio iLife08--iMovie, iDVD, garageband, iPhoto
Price $1299
No the Dell isn't higher priced, but the Apple isn't significantly higher, when you consider the "entertainment"software that it provides that doesn't come with the Dell. That easily covers the $45 price difference.
Add to that the reliability issues of Vista versus OS X and it's pretty much a wash that ends up being a choice of personal preference.
The days of Apple being significantly higher priced than the competition are long gone. Now it's just FUD from anti-fanboys.
I agree with you, but telling someone to wrap someone up in a sheet and then beat them isn't the same thing as telling them to defend themselves when attacked.
If someone hits me, I defend myself. It's simply the way I was raised and the way I raise my kids. I don't tell them to go out and instigate a fight with the bully to prove a point though.
Violence has nothing to do with my comments at all.
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The "smart ones" stay put, holding the job for the government benefits/retirement and do things on the side to keep themselves interested in the work.
The motivated ones move to another line of work.
I agree with your general sentiment that teachers deserve a decent salary. The problem is, the other things you mentioned, lesson planning, homework grading, counseling parents, that's now all done during their regular "business hours", unlike my generation where teachers did much of that after school and on their own time.
The big problem right now is that teachers "can't" get the salaries they deserve, so they're taking the perks elsewhere. As a result the education of future generations is suffering drastically.
It's not all the teachers' fault though. Parents hold just as much to blame because they (we) seem to have forgotten the role we're supposed to play in our own children's educations. Parents want teachers to do the parenting and the teaching and it simply doesn't (and shouldn't) work that way.
In what world do most teachers have a Bachelors, Masters, and teaching cert? Seriously. Most of the primary and secondary education teachers I know have a Bachelors degree and a teaching cert, which basically came as an add-on test to their Bachelors degree.
Of the dozen or so teachers I know personally 1 has Masters degree, and 1 has PhD in Math Education. (His specialty is teaching teachers to teach math--IE he's a college professor who happens to be teaching at a high school right now.) It may be the norm where you live, but "most" teachers definitely do not hold multiple degrees. Sure a chunk of them do, especially if they have any interest in teaching at college level, but it's far from most.
Please show me one place that doesn't have private education?
Removing private education from "the system" might help but it won't fix the problem. To fix things, we have to refocus on teaching children at an appropriate level. Not everyone is (or should be) destined for a college education. Not everyone wants to be a lawyer/doctor/engineer/whatever. We've started railroading our kids into believing the only way to success is through academia, and that's bullshit. As a result the people who have different interests (such as vocational careers) are treated as second and third class citizens and are not taught things practical for them to know in the name of "progress".
This isn't entirely the teachers union's fault but it is having an impact. My daughter's school literally spends 1/3 less time in class than I did at the same education level. Why? Because teachers don't hold parent teacher conferences at night any more, they hold them during the school day, for multiple days. They also hold them more often. Teachers used to get one "teacher work day" to prep for report cards each quarter. Now they get at least one per month and often a second half day the day prior.
The education system is broken but it's not because we have "too much" private education in this country. We've just become too complacent about education and those who aren't are often "helicopter parents" which brings a whole new set of problems.
Yes, pressed media is more reliable than burned media, but we're talking about back-ups here, not music sales.
That still doesn't explain what perils these would pose rather than some other option.
People think they are a 'hard' copy and 'safe' whereas they are 'another' copy and 'unreliable'.
As opposed to what? Seriously, how is any back up different than the original in a digital medium?
Power consumption would be my first guess. Second would be the fact that you won't get much better playback of any video from multiple reads so it's only good for reading data and then only if you have enough buffer space and fast enough bus to actually do something productive with that data.
I wish I could mod this funny but alas all my points were used up.
We would almost certainly know when and approximately where any large enough celestial "body" would hit to forewarn at least the government of said nations, if not the citizens.
We are pretty good at tracking things in the sky these days simply because we're worried about your scenario. Fear not, we won't be accidentally involved in a nuclear war. We'll handle that all by ourselves, the old fashioned way-some asshole will act stupid.
I've never seen a single H1-B for anyone that wasn't a skilled (read college educated) worker. Janitors, secretaries, and other positions generally aren't hired from these pools because they aren't any cheaper to pay, and for marketing and sales, most people don't want "foreigners" working in those departments because too many ignorant people complain that they have accents etc.
Feel free to show me examples of where I'm wrong and I'll concede your point, but my experience has never shown any of your implications to be accurate.
Care to supply any links for your information? Mine may be inaccurate now (it is an old article) but I did bother to actually back up my statements.
Please read my reply to Nursie. You are correct that my post implies that, but it's not my intent to suggest that they aren't important at all, just that I think there are other issues more important on which to base my national vote.
I agree, they aren't completely frivolous concerns, and I said they aren't black and white issues. Obviously I don't think everyone is like me, and I wouldn't want them to be. (We'd be a very boring society if we were all the same.) My point was that while there are more, shall we say "urgent" matters, I put the little annoyances on the back burner. I actually get more worked up about the issues that affect me directly (I had a conversation with my tattoo artist the other day about copyright infringement because kinkos wouldn't make copies for him of artwork so he could use it as reference) but in the big picture these are fights that I don't base my presidential votes upon because I think they need to be fought at a local, grass roots, level.
My post may not have worded that as clearly as I intended, but it's just not a priority for me at the national level because invariably it's the local implementation that has the most impact on me as a citizen.
How in the world do you define "largely" if you think tech jobs will be "largely filled"?
Seriously, H1-B visas can only encompass a relatively small percentage of the work force (something between 15-33% depending on company size for H1B dependent employers.) Yes 1/3 of jobs is a high percentage, but most companies don't qualify for that level of H1-B employees, and furthermore, most can't afford the fees associated with the paperwork, even if you consider reduced wages, which are technically not allowed.
Link for my info here: http://www.murthy.com/h1bwrkr.html
Copyright infringer? Not really-doesn't apply.
Pot smoker? Nope-doesn't apply.
Violent video games? Sorry, no games for me, I have more work to do and I like to play outside. Don't think they should be banned, but don't have a real concern if they are either.
Porn? Off the internets? Won't happen because it drives a huge portion of our economy whether its opponents want to admit it or not.
How about real issues, like the economy, war, trade deficits, equality of education and rights for all of our citizens. These are real concerns I have, not frivolous adolescent worries like whether they're going to make me stop sharing my music. I vote based on these issues, and it's not black and white. It's never black and white, even for the issues you mentioned, but they're certainly not high on my priority list of things to think about when voting this November.
You don't work with too many architects or structural engineers do you? Most of that business is done in 2D.
I've seen his mom, and I wouldn't be too proud of that if I were you.
That's because everyone else is at the other parties. There's definitely nothing like a party alone, I'll agree there.
I gave up my nerd credentials years ago. I choose to retain my "geek" credentials though.
If you don't understand the difference, you really are a nerd.
Sorry, I missed the screen size difference. Fingerprint readers are a gimmick and don't add any real value, in my opinion. The MS Works, similarly, doesn't add much value, but is arguably better than the apps available built into OS X.
While I agree Apple has room for improvement, and I don't like the way they deal with the support forums, I've had pretty decent luck when actually talking to a real person about issues.
The hardware is the same, so saying it's "problematic" won't matter no matter which vendor you buy from.
Warranty, as far as I know, is comparable to Dell, and Sony though I'm not 100% sure about that.
I don't buy Apple accessories because they generally work with third party "accessories", by which I assume you mean hard drives, printers, and the like. I've never had any problem using any of those devices with any Apples I've ever had to work with in the past.
Apple machines can also be found cheaper than at the Apple store, though they are usually refurbished so it's not really making a fair comparison. The deals from Dell are definitely much cheaper if you can get $200-$500 off.
Again, $170 difference. More significant than the Dell, but certainly not "hugely overpriced" as many people would have you believe.
I think that still falls in the realm of personal preference between the two operating systems and software options, but the 6 cell battery is likely a big bonus and at least the HP comes with some installed "entertainment" applications that could compete with the iLife suite.
The only thing I added was the white color because the black color is not standard for the mac. LIke, being like, it's still only $100 difference. I'm not sure what else there is to "jack up the price" that you didn't include.
Quibble all you want but at that price, and the differences in the software, it's still a personal preference issue.
I'm not sure why you think I had any incentive to "jack up the price" but you're wrong.
If you have yet to see it actually happen you haven't actually spec'd out comparable systems in the last 3 or 4 years. It's easier now than ever to compare because you can actually buy the same hardware options.
For fun, here's what I came up with today:
From Dell: 13.3"
Alpine White
Intel® Coreâ 2 Duo T8300 (2.4GHz/800Mhz FSB/3MB cache)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition
Standard Display with 2.0 Megapixel Webcam
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Intel® Integrated GMA X3100
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card
Built-in Bluetooth capability (2.0 EDR)
10/100 Ethernet
37Whr Lithium Ion Battery (4 cell)
High Definition Audio 2.0
Biometric Fingerprint Reader
McAfee SecurityCenter 15-months
1Yr In-Home Service, P+L,24x7 Phone Support
Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr
Price: $1254
From Apple: 13" Macbook
White
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 3MB shared L2 cache
13.3-inch glossy widescreen and iSight camera
OS X (Panther)
2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
Dual Layer Superdrive dvd burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
Intel® Integrated GMA X3100
Integrated Bluetooth
Apple Airport Extreme 802.11n
Gigabit Ethernet port
4 cell Li-Ion battery
Built in Audio
iLife08--iMovie, iDVD, garageband, iPhoto
Price $1299
No the Dell isn't higher priced, but the Apple isn't significantly higher, when you consider the "entertainment"software that it provides that doesn't come with the Dell. That easily covers the $45 price difference.
Add to that the reliability issues of Vista versus OS X and it's pretty much a wash that ends up being a choice of personal preference.
The days of Apple being significantly higher priced than the competition are long gone. Now it's just FUD from anti-fanboys.
I agree with you, but telling someone to wrap someone up in a sheet and then beat them isn't the same thing as telling them to defend themselves when attacked.
If someone hits me, I defend myself. It's simply the way I was raised and the way I raise my kids. I don't tell them to go out and instigate a fight with the bully to prove a point though.
Violence has nothing to do with my comments at all.