I guess with all the classes they have to take on child-psychology, learning patterns, and other specialized classes that actually enable them to be *TEACHERS* as opposed to someone who talks to themself in the front of a room - they never had the time to take 'Widows Guru class 405'.
Why would one naturally assume.. for example.. an english teacher would be all over windows.. but not assume.. for another example.. someone with an MBA is ?
Thats just assanine. Teachers are just like every other cross section of society. Younger ones have more access/usage/knowledge of computers, and older ones less.
Just because someone is the bastion of education doesn't mean they have had the time and or desire to learn something that 70% of them don't use in their daily lives.
[and before you go off on how all schools have computers.. do a little research.. if your Highschool had a computer lab when you we're there.. your in a better place than like 60-70% of the US.. let alone other countries.]
when it comes to paying $1500 for new windows per classroom.. or a new computer with m$ whatever on it.. the windows take priority.
you could always be construtive and offer to HELP your local school teachers learn windows.. if your lucky enough to be in a school system that accepts outside volunteer work.. normally the union doesnt stand for that.
[i offered to wire my wife's school with cat-5.. so they could acutally USE computers that were donated to them.. but was refused becuase of union protests.]
2nd thought..it must be lsd to see so many rainbow hues.
First off.. M$ is never going to 'pound linux into the ground' They may have a lot of money.. but linux is not a centralized corporation. You can't sue.. lets say.. 500 people for writing under the GPL..
Linux (as much as M$ hates it) is here to stay.. its not like unix and its deravitaves are 'new players' or anything.. hell.. i learned to code on a Next station. long before windows was on every pc in the workforce.
Making something technologically 'easier' to use doesnt always help either.
granted . it makes it easier for folks like my mom to get e-mail.. which is cool.
but a lovley growing trend i see now is a lot of CS grads who can't *DO* anything.
those 95% [who's ass did you pull that # out of??] of recent CS grads that work with windows are friggen trained to call the M$ help desks.
example : i work for a fortune 500.. we were having an issue with our graphics department's server [it was not allowing group read/write permissions]
common sence would think the network admin (who gets 85+ a year) would say... oh.. its a permissions error. Especially since he was playing with the group permission settings the previous day.
instead.. he called m$ technical hot line (our company pays a yearly fee to be able to do this) and started a 4 hour tour into 'lets play with this until it works' with the 'afore vaunted' CS graduate on the other end of the phone.
even your average unix/linux neophyte can chown -r a folder on their own.
these CS grads had it too easy in college.. instead of having to learn their code.. they can just hit the net to find examples.. i cant COUNT the # of times my nephiew jumped into the mirc rooms i hang out in.. and started asking programming questions.
these guys turn into coders who have to have net access to do their job. or who's company needs to pay the annual fee to microsoft for tech support.
now, im not saying windows is crap.. i prefer it in a non secure/desktop setting.. im not even saying m$ is evil (i might be implying it though)
im just saying your argument is silly. especially if you think abstract knowledge of a system makes you BETTER at programming that system.
at which point the private schools.. who's success can be attributed to if nothing else.. much smaller class sizes (one school in the area bosts class sizes of less that 15 'so your child gets the attention they need'. get flooded with the 'financially challenged' familys.. who don't care about their kid's education.. but that they are out of the house during the day.
no.. that won't fix it.. the real issue.. is that our society has.. over time.. declaired that teachers are supposed to raise, teach, give values to , and babysit our kids while we do much more 'important' things. like.. work.. or build web-pages about power tools *tounge in cheek*
you want to see where economics of scale thinking gets you ? go to 'private' school [the USA's version of public schools] over in the UK.
class sizes are over 50+..
vouchers don't help.. and probally won't. 40 years ago a highschool education was the equalivant of a liberal arts degree.
Now.. in the U.S. you can't get a passingly decent job with out a B.S or a B.A degree..
yet our highchool graduates can't read at an 8th grade level.
seems to me like people are just pushing off the responsability of education. not adding to its value.
[but i digress:P]
i do have to say.. you are correct to a certain degree.. i think that the voucher system will cause something to happen.. maybe not the desired effect.. but it will certainly stir things up.
funnily enough though . they entire country has a SHORTAGE on teachers. Baltimore County alone has over 40 vacencies this year that probally won't be filled.
teachers are not hired on supply and demand, but on the state/town/provine's school budget.
The next town over (Perry Hall) has a population of over 400,000 people.. and 1 elementry , 1 middle, and 1 high school.
There is a plan to build 2000 more townhouses by the end of this year.. but no more schools.
Intrinsic worth aside - Teachers do more work than i do.. and hold a higher value - because they can train others to do my work.. lowering the value of my job - and making the results cheaper - thus.. according to capatolism.. they should be paid more:)
yeah.. her health benifits are ok.. not great.. just ok.
yes.. she gets 2-3 months off . but she also doesnt get PAID for those months. $31k is her yearly income.. [now granted.. most education systems have 'summer clubs' you pay into.. and they distribute you checks all year long.]
she gets the same paid holidays everyone else gets.. remember.. just because the kids have it off.. doesn't mean the teachers do.. she often goes to workshops or staff lectures on 'national' holidays.
tenure doesn't mean anything. in like 1950 it did. but for example, if a student were to start hitting her - and she defended herself and the student got hurt in *ANY* way.. she would immediatly loose her job. [doesn't seem like a big deal till you teach in horrible areas]
also.. tenure means they control her *LIFE*.. she is expected to be a 'presentable member of society' 24/7.. one of her colleages was fired last year because one of the board of education was at the same superbowl pary (in a bar downtown) and the poor guy was drunk in public.. there is a suit.. but who knows how thats gonna play out.
female teachers are not allowed to get restraunt jobs in baltimore county (during the summer) or god forbid at a bar.. because it may have a 'negative connotation' as to the status of a teacher's position in society.
and yes.. she gets raises every year.. usually 1% or less . of course.. keep in mind everyone ELSE gets raises on seniority. As well as promotions, so.. by your own argument.. it doesn't matter if your a GOOD teacher.. or an active teacher.. you just have to be a teacher.. and eventually - your running a school.
doesnt that give you the warm-fuzzies ?
as for the 'just show up thing' - even tenured teachers (and.. by the way.. tenure ONLY works in your county and in some cases.. only your school.. if you ever move schools/jobs/grades.. often you loose your tenure . How many IT people would gnaw their own arm off working for the same company for 30 years?) have 4-6 reviews a year.. if you have 3 of them bad.. your gone.. tenure or not. [usually gone means your not fired.. but you get to go teach at the 'correctional' schools where they send all the kids who like the sharpen spoons.
so.. now.. i'm not sure why you decided to attack me.. but here are the answers to your questions.
as for why you decided to attack me personally with my 'comment on how.. compared to a teacher.. i don't do anything' statement ?
maybe you value your own worth too much ? what I do is important to my company , and im pretty well compensated for it . Im not some fly-by-night web-monkey.. I actually went to college - and yes.. i have a degree in C.S... but in the grand scheme of things ? I don't do *ANYTHING* important for society.. unless you count building web-pages about powertools important. By 'Sit on my A$$' i mean that I do a normal 9-10 hour day and go home. But when i'm home.. unless something horrible happens at work..i'm home.. and my life is mine.
Public school teacher's don't have that luxury , if your next door neigebor is one of your students.. you can't exactly run around your house in a bikini. [not our case.. just an example.]
Teachers are 'public servents' like cops [don't get me started on that.. my father was a cop] and fire-fighters. And as such.. they are on the job a lot more than you would thing.
I'm not crying about our life.. mr Flame. I'm crying about how our country under-evulates education - and how that is gonna kill us in the end.
Of course.. if you don't understand the thrust of this line of thinking.. maybe our school systems are already failing.
Im a webmaster, my wife is a middle school teacher.
I work for a a fortune 500 , she works for the county of a fairly well known city.
I make a little under 70k a year.. she makes just over 30k
I did the math once on how 'valuable' she was to society.
she has about 300 students a day: and for argument.. lets say she makes 31,000 a full 12 month year (with no summer jobs or incentive teaching programs) [which.. by the way.. most teachers have to do to make ends meet.. having their summers off is a crock.]
that makes her monthly (pre tax) salery about 2,583 - $646 a week - $129 a day [this is pre tax mind you] for a 5 day work week. that means she is paid $0.40 cents a student per day.
she has 7 classes that are 50 mins long.. and we are assuming that she only has each student once.
lets for argument say.. that she is geting approx $0.42 cents a child per hour (and forget all the decimal places)
I can hire my 13 year old neigebor as a baby sitter for the premium price of $1.50 an hour. kids used to get $1 an hour when i was 13ish.. so i have to figure the going rate is probally around 2.. but i get a break cause there are a lot of cool toys in the house;) [www.remsbox.com]
so.. the first insult is that my wife gets paid less than a 13 year old kid.. and needed a BA + certification to have that priveledge.
NOW lets talk about her budget.
She has an annual budget of $1000 for art supplies. thats $3.33 (ish) cents per child.. *PER YEAR* - that works out to $0.02 (rounded up) a day in art supplies..
so far.. all those wondeful taxes you pay to the government for "schools" is buying your 12 year old son $0.44 cents a day worth of education. (you can multiply that out for 7 classes yourself.. but keep in mind.. not all those classes have such a lavish budget.)
Add into this the job descriptions of: - must argue with irate parents over their failing kids - must 'teach' class-sizes of 35+ students - must contact parents 2 times verbally and 1 time in writing before failing a child. [regardless of their performance , or even ATTENDANCE] - must police halls - must immediatly report any child on 'agressive profile' list (a-la colembine) - must pay for extra art supplies out of her own pocket or explain to children why they are drawing with water on bathroom tissue AGAIN. - must not call on 2 boys in a row, or two girls, or two children of the same nationality, may not correct a student's answer when they answer a question wrong. [ever notice how your teachers always asked at least 3 kids before correcting 'all of you?' they get in trouble if they dont.] - must not ever touch a child in any way. [a teacher in our county was sued by a family because she tried to catch a child who was falling (due to ironically , her twin brother tripping her) the child suffered a sprained arm where the teacher grabbed her as her head was rushing towards teh concreate)
these are only the tip of the iceberg.
I on the otherhand.. sit on my a$$ all day.. fill out some code.. then go home.
are IT professionals overpaid compared to people who do other 'necessairy' jobs ? yeh . I have to say that we are.
Its just a personal pet peve of mine that teachers, the folks who are RESPONSABLE for us being smart enough to do this work . get shafted. Baltimore County cant seem to find any $$ when her school's heaters break, but they found enough $$ to build a by-way that allowed a contracter to build 4,500 townhouses in a previously unreachable tract of land.
to really throw injury on insult, they predict that the community raised by at least 6000 familys this year, and her school cut 7 positions.
kinda like the difference between Nickers and Knackered.. A lession well learned while conversing with a (very attractive) co-worker when I was living in Nottingham.
but she looked *SOO* cute slapping me.
I don't believe someone modded down my natural +1
on
One DVD To Rule Them All
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· Score: 0, Redundant
not sure.. all that was based on about a year ago when I asked a friend of mine who (then) worked for a distributino company in CA about getting Grease on DVD for my mom.
Actually there are several movies that will probally never make it to DVD
Indiana Jones, Grease, etc etc.
it all revolves around distribution contracts from the mid to late 80's (maybe a bit earlier).
In the distribution contracts (since the motion picture agency was paranoid about vcr's at the time - and had just lost their case where they tried to do away with them) for a time in any new/renewed distribution contract. They spelled out EXACTLY what methods and specifically.. what MEDIA.. those films could legally be released in.
in the case of grease, or raiders of the lost art.. there are clauses that prohibit them being distributed on 'any other' media than those specified. (hence.. DVD's)Having just lost to the VCR.. and thinkig it was going to kill them.. they didn't want to take any future chances.
i bet the draconian leeches in the motion picture distribution chain are kicking themselves now.. im sure they would like to make a bundle off an indiana jones box set. (and pump the upcoming movie.)
saddly.. if they break these contracts themselves.. it will set legal precident that says new distribution methods not spelled out in a contract are ok ( including morphius et. al. ) so they aren't gonna go that route anytime soon.
Best bet is for them to wait untill the contract / licences expire or come up for renewal.. and re-write them.
I hope he doesnt leave the country alot.. otherwise he may have to get involved in a scandolous lawsuit.. and make major bucks once the airport security guys insist on pulling the wires out of his arm.
and stealing his sunglasses.
But back on topic.. i have to say this is neat.. especially how this technology could lead to 'filtering' nerve impulses through a processor for things like 'MS' or maybe parkensons.
or another posibility (off the cuff) allowing people with severe burns or severd nerves to regain tactile feeling in their hands (even if its simulated)
"It was the second time Heckenkamp fired his lawyers -- in January, he had a federal magistrate appoint him as his own counsel, only to change his mind the same day. "
*tries to bite back comment about READING the articles*
Not only is it sad that this kid was able to get rid of his council (twice).. but he is ovbiously either REALLY moronic..
or he is going for an insaniy plea..
he did manage to menauver the judge into saying: "The comments that you are making to the court lead me to suspect that either you are playing games with the court, or you're experiencing a serious lack of judgment."
its only a hop skip and a jump from there to have the judge decide that he ALWAYS shows a lack of judgement, and its a medical condition.
he will have to take lithium forever, but at least he wont do hard time. (again)
of course.. i was only making a point.. but to be a devil's advocate.. if you are writing very modular stuff.. say.. bank reports.. in COBOL possibly
you might have a function that changes when your vendor requires tweaks to their reports.
so i might have a function PrintBankofAmerica(); which calls a database, sorts etc , and generates a report.. of course.. i could just make a fuction of each called in the main function.. and replace as needed..
works good in the classroom, not always in 30 year old systems *grin*. But yes.. that theory is the best way to do it if you can.
People Bank's data may be pulled from an Oracle Database, and Bank of America off Reel to reel.
and that may change on any given day dependong on the branch (shudder to think it.. but its true)
My point was more that you can't depend on function names totally to describe complex functions.
and one whole concept of a function in modular programming is to increase the abstration (like objects in C) so to replace the Bank of America reporting block..i just replace that whole funcion (or the inclue/library or whatever it is this month)
but yes , i agree , multiple functions that perform simple steps is the way to go if you have that luxury.
if you think that anyone will be able to get what you were doing 2 years after you left/were replaced - your fooling yourself.
within 2 years.. the whole scope of an existing project might have changed directions 2-3 times. What may seem an 'obvious' goal to you.. now.. working on the project.. Might be something that is not a goal later on.
Yet your function is still there.
If your code is clean.. yeah.. they can see what your *doing* , but that doesnt mean they know why your doing it.
And I for one.. dont like naming my functions 'pullDataFromDatabaseAndSortItForRepeatsWhichWeSen dToAReport' a bit cludgey.
Commenting your code has been around since the late 70's/early 80's.. when we stopped using punch cards (and even then people used to jot notes on cards) and I still think its a good practice if you want to write code that can be used/modified even five years after its inception.
Not to mention that it might be nice to know where your incoming variables are coming from.. or what they are expected to do.
$loop is pretty self defining.. so is $array
but having a comment '// This function pulls an array of repeated fields, and outputs them to a report'
took me only about 4 seconds to type. and saves someone the time of huting through other code to see what REFERENCES your funcion.
*emote*gets off his horse*/emote*
but granted.. we don't need a book every time either.
My gut instinct (like many people here im sure) was to say . 'GREAT.. now M$ has to fix their holes.'
Bad move on my part.. after thinking about it (and finishing the article) Many smaller companies (shareware/freeware) are gonna get nailed on this first.
The one man-opensource-grassroots guys are gonna get hammered.
Hell.. anyone wanna bet how quickly the new M$ department that checks for vulnarabilities in compedator's products would get formed ? Why spend years in court.. when you can just bury them in paperwork *THAT THEY LEGALLY ARE RESPONSABLE FOR*.
chuckle.. i don't care much for the mass media.. the wallstreet journal, and the local morning paper is all i really read for U.S. papers. more of a time factor than anything.. I have read the National Review . [I still read it , as well as what London and Tokyo(english) papers I can get my hands on when i visit the library.. but back to that time thing:( ]
plus stuff online.. which saddly.. must be taken with just as much as a grain of salt as anything in print now adays.
I generally don't read pulp mags either.
I agree with you that most news outlets are very liberal.. which rubs me the wrong way sometimes. Journalism is supposed to be objective, not passion filled. It hard to get the facts when you are only give the ones that put the correct 'spin' on a story. Which means that the 'average' guy/gal probally wont have the time/resources to find out what the truth really is. Especially if it doesn't affect them.
(case.. the current US "recession".. when the media.. lacking anything better to talk about.. start saying that the economy is going to get worse, what does the general public do ? buy a new car ? or put $$ in the bank ? If the econmy is going to get worse.. and people stop spending $ is it going to get better any time soon ?)
Yes..I'm not a big fan of organized religion. However.. I'm not exactly saying 'Stone the God Fear-ers' here.. as far as i'm concened.. religion is a personal thing.. your conversations between you and your God/Goddess/Golden Statue/etc. Its for spititual enrichment of your soul. key words..
*your soul* not mine, not the guy down the street, not President Bush's nor that bacteria in a petri dish's soul.. but yours.
I'm more than willing to say that people deserve this right.. its what our country was founded on.. its the door-to-door-save-your-soul-peer-in-your-windows-t o-see-if-your-sinning folks that tork me off.
most major religions say we have a choice in our actions, catholosism says that their God *gave* us that choice. to go full circle.. if their God gave us that choice.. who is the current gov't to take it away with 'religious overtones' ? [why did seperation of church & state happen in the first place?]
im stating that political decisions for an entire country.. should be made with the *country* in mind.
Broad sweeping general decisions, like *cloning is bad because it kills potential fetus* are very dangerous. [as im sure you agree] Are they acting in the nation's best interest ? like a true democratic gov't would ? Doubtful.. even Rome had corruption, and they had less stuff to distract them.. aside from Gaul.. that was a big one.
It just scares the living pants of me whenever decisions like this are made because honestly.. there really is no 'majoity' in the U.S.A anymore . the only thing that comes close is the potential for 51% of the population to me female. [I have no idea what the national average is] but to try to get 51% of any other subset is almost impossible. Not to say that decisions should be based on 1/2 of the country.. but thats just an example.
What I think i object more to than anything.. is basing a scientific decision, on a platform like religion. There isn't a religious group in the U.S.A (including Roman Catholics) that holds the majority of the country. Some groups (obviouly) of american citizens's religions have no issues with this.. Some american's.. *gasp* don't even believe in a higher power.
What I wan't to know.. and what I object to.. is why are we making decisions that could stifle our progress as a race (human.. not colour) in this country, based on criteria that isn't a part of everyone's life.
[yes yes ..i know.. if we don't consider beyond basic needs, then we have no society.. and i know im making this a lot simpler than it really is.. but im not writing a thesis here:P just chatting about my views:P]
Lol..don't mistake any of my rambling for getting my bristles up. I can get passionate about topics like this (and jump around in a topic like a monkey on speed) but really, discussing matters , in forums like/. really just lets me pin down my ever evolving values.
who knows.. maybe tomorrow i'll think its a good decision. You can't form your opinions with out looking at opposing views.
actually.. both have been publicized heavily in the papers over here in the U.S. recently. The euro when europe switched.. the Yen just recently with the Steel embargos on Japan.
I wouldn't have chosen those two examples if not for the publicity. [maybe I would have questioned the sales tax rate for the states that surround the one they live in.. or maybe even any other non U.S. country that won an olympic medal in the event of the questionee's choice.]
I was,however, insinuating that religious right people ignore news that does not pertain to their (often) narrow view of the world. [generally the state they live in.. possibly how the government is letting those damn hippies ruin the country's 'family values'.] particularly over here in America, where medical doctors have been murdered becuase they performed an abortion sometime in their life. Or where large groups of religious people have manged to win frivilious law suits, or sway opinion vs the 'public' norm.
example: here in maryland, one of the towns near D.C. refused to allow 'santa clause' to appear in their traditional thanksgiving parade. This was publicized as a 'town tradition' (grain of salt) The town banned 'santa' not becuase of the NYC bombing, not because of safty issues. But because a small (less than 20) group of religious people said it was insulting because they didn't believe in celebrating christmas.
If that doesnt give me evidance that people who spout religious dogma can't influence society more than the 'average' american joe - well.. i would be surprized.
A somewhat techno-geek example would be allowing a MSCE to replace all the Apples in public school learning labs with windows machines (at tax-payer expense) because 'they dont know how to maintain a MAC' rather than learning how to work the existing system.
Its sad to think that I will probally be the last generation in my family to have known the USA as a technological superpower.
With increasing restrictions on scientific study, assanine patent law, and scientific monopolies - it seems everyone is out for either the buck or the moral highground. [or a political office.]
Hobbes would be proud, since he was the first to preach that to inturrupt the 'process' of god was a sin. Apparantly cloning (as well as violent video games and open source software) falls into this catagory.
Am i using a sweeping generality , you betchya`. Is it far from the truth ? not really as far as I would like it to be.
While i must say.. im registered as a Republician, and fairly conservative about stuff in general. I'm ironically a futurist. I think we should be more green, use cleaner technology, and improve our life/life style. But keeping the cost to future generations in account.
Apparantly the way the govt slid the last 8 years, was to pander to the highest voting majority, go back to our 16th centruy religious roots, and avoid change.
change apparantly is evil. and will destroy our 'family' values. Whatever values they have 'saved' in 15 years when people are mutating horribly due to all the petrolium toxins in the air/water/soil won't matter.. its TODAY that counts.
As the US becomes more and more self centered and less a 'world' player.. we are going to isolate ourselves from new technology.. new ideas. [fun experiment, ask your average religious right how much the yen is at.. or the euro.. and see if they know.]
Anyone see what japan did ? Japanese as a culture are rather xenophobic. [Just watch a 6 foot tall black man walk down a street in Yokohama.. and you will understand what i mean.] When a society isolates itself socially, it stagnates. They may have been a super-power economy once, but the bubble burst - and with that loss of economy, the last 40 years of growing pains are showing.
Incest between mother and son is common due to bonds formed from 'exam' stress. Rape and molestation is practicaly a way of life for young girls. And 12 year old prostitutes in the Tokyo/yokahama area are not only common, but ALMOST accepted. Theft and crime, once unthinkable (outside organized gangs) are becoming common place.
Again, im being general here.. some to make a point, some to save time.
I just wonder, how much of 'protecting our values' Japan did 10-15 years ago. Are we repeating the same social mistakes? By refusing to let our scientists to explore? When our future is being decided by people who are holding onto beliefs that were founded 2000 years ago, when the world (to them) comprised of about 1/3 of europe - is that system equiped to handle the way the world is now ?
would you choose to program your new graphics application in C++ ? or COBOL ?
Why does eveyone whine about having to acutally PAY for something ? How many people here are professionals, and how many are starving college kids ? [And why are some of the professionals ACTING like starving college kids?]
sieriously though.. $5 isnt a lot of money. Hell. thats going without my daily Star-Crack(tm) coffee addiction once a month. Hell ! its only 1/2 a pinball and i replace like 1 of those a month!
For something that adds value.. cool. I mean.. i read/. almost daily..so..
My big fear is what its going to do to the 'constructive' user.
Its not going to scare away trolls.. they don't spend a lot of time on/. It not gonna scare the casual reader.. the only people i *do* see it bothering are the people 40+ karma... who post alot, and are actually providing content for free.
I mean.. people come here just as much for the commentary as the articles (and in the case of John Katz or the current report on the newest star wars trailer that is 2 seconds longer than the last one.. maybe MORE for the comments than the articles.)
If a large number of 'interesting' posters stop posting as much.. is/. gonna get 'dumb-ed down' ?
Cable companies paid @Home $13.00 a subscriber.. thats far from 50% as your average cable company charges $45-$50 a month.
@Home didn't build anything... they were essentually a reseller. They leased lines from the 5 major backbones, and in turn acted as a gateway between the cable companies and those backbones.. more or less getting them a 'volume' discount.
@Home's contracts were for being part of the @Home franchise. {still recogonizable} and for their hosting e-mail and web space. thats it. In all actualily.. the contracts probally HELPED the end consumer, as cable franchises we're not allowed to go above a certain price cap, and we're not allowed to sell 'tiered services (like business lines at business rates'. After @Home said it was gonna go bust.. whats the FIRST thing all the cable companies did. Answer: raise their rates.. when the lawyers got no $$.. you automagically win in court.
When you throw on top of that Beer-Day Fridays, free massages, and the Sucking black hole which is Excite.com, thats where the $$ went.. not to these imagined things.
Once Excite came online, those vampires sucked @Home for every penny. I had to deal with no less than FOUR account reps once a week for about 3 months just to sync up our local market homepage 'headlines' with their main page. Thats a lot of wasted man hours that could have been avoided with 1 simple statement.
[Did I mention there was a slide in the main office, made it easier to get downstairs on Beer-Day Friday]
chuckle.. you think they don't make money ? Forgetting that not every business makes $$ (on papaer) within the first 5 years - [I would be suspicious of any big business who's plan SHOWED them making it before then.] You can rest assured, they are making $$.
I used to work for comcast.
the average subscriber pays $40 a month for broadband. (if they have cable TV.. about $40 a month minimum)
$15 of that went to @home. and the majority of the rest went into the coffers.
don't say expansion to me.. because the cable internet division didn't PAY for the expansion.. Digital Cable TV did. Cable internet cost them NOTHING to do.. and was hindsight . the hardware was already in place after they did digital TV. a medium of streaming video.
the kicker is.. where did that $15 a month go ? (and for non comcast customers.. why did they raise the rates $5 last Aug)
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I guess with all the classes they have to take on child-psychology, learning patterns, and other specialized classes that actually enable them to be *TEACHERS* as opposed to someone who talks to themself in the front of a room - they never had the time to take 'Widows Guru class 405'.
.. for example .. an english teacher would be all over windows .. but not assume .. for another example .. someone with an MBA is ?
.. do a little research .. if your Highschool had a computer lab when you we're there .. your in a better place than like 60-70% of the US .. let alone other countries.]
.. or a new computer with m$ whatever on it .. the windows take priority.
.. if your lucky enough to be in a school system that accepts outside volunteer work .. normally the union doesnt stand for that.
.. so they could acutally USE computers that were donated to them .. but was refused becuase of union protests.]
Why would one naturally assume
Thats just assanine. Teachers are just like every other cross section of society. Younger ones have more access/usage/knowledge of computers, and older ones less.
Just because someone is the bastion of education doesn't mean they have had the time and or desire to learn something that 70% of them don't use in their daily lives.
[and before you go off on how all schools have computers
when it comes to paying $1500 for new windows per classroom
you could always be construtive and offer to HELP your local school teachers learn windows
[i offered to wire my wife's school with cat-5
what kind of crack are you on ?
..it must be lsd to see so many rainbow hues.
.. M$ is never going to 'pound linux into the ground' They may have a lot of money .. but linux is not a centralized corporation. You can't sue .. lets say .. 500 people for writing under the GPL ..
.. its not like unix and its deravitaves are 'new players' or anything .. hell .. i learned to code on a Next station. long before windows was on every pc in the workforce.
.. which is cool.
.. we were having an issue with our graphics department's server [it was not allowing group read/write permissions]
... oh .. its a permissions error. Especially since he was playing with the group permission settings the previous day.
.. he called m$ technical hot line (our company pays a yearly fee to be able to do this) and started a 4 hour tour into 'lets play with this until it works' with the 'afore vaunted' CS graduate on the other end of the phone.
.. instead of having to learn their code .. they can just hit the net to find examples .. i cant COUNT the # of times my nephiew jumped into the mirc rooms i hang out in .. and started asking programming questions .
.. i prefer it in a non secure/desktop setting ..
2nd thought
First off
Linux (as much as M$ hates it) is here to stay
Making something technologically 'easier' to use doesnt always help either.
granted . it makes it easier for folks like my mom to get e-mail
but a lovley growing trend i see now is a lot of CS grads who can't *DO* anything.
those 95% [who's ass did you pull that # out of??]
of recent CS grads that work with windows are friggen trained to call the M$ help desks.
example : i work for a fortune 500
common sence would think the network admin (who gets 85+ a year) would say
instead
even your average unix/linux neophyte can chown -r a folder on their own.
these CS grads had it too easy in college
these guys turn into coders who have to have net access to do their job. or who's company needs to pay the annual fee to microsoft for tech support.
now, im not saying windows is crap
im not even saying m$ is evil (i might be implying it though)
im just saying your argument is silly.
especially if you think abstract knowledge of a system makes you BETTER at programming that system.
at which point the private schools .. who's success can be attributed to if nothing else .. much smaller class sizes (one school in the area bosts class sizes of less that 15 'so your child gets the attention they need'. get flooded with the 'financially challenged' familys .. who don't care about their kid's education .. but that they are out of the house during the day.
.. that won't fix it .. the real issue .. is that our society has .. over time .. declaired that teachers are supposed to raise, teach, give values to , and babysit our kids while we do much more 'important' things. like .. work .. or build web-pages about power tools *tounge in cheek*
..
.. and probally won't. 40 years ago a highschool education was the equalivant of a liberal arts degree.
.. in the U.S. you can't get a passingly decent job with out a B.S or a B.A degree ..
:P]
.. you are correct to a certain degree .. i think that the voucher system will cause something to happen .. maybe not the desired effect .. but it will certainly stir things up.
no
you want to see where economics of scale thinking gets you ? go to 'private' school [the USA's version of public schools] over in the UK.
class sizes are over 50+
vouchers don't help
Now
yet our highchool graduates can't read at an 8th grade level.
seems to me like people are just pushing off the responsability of education. not adding to its value.
[but i digress
i do have to say
well .. i am russian :)
.. and 1 elementry , 1 middle, and 1 high school.
.. but no more schools.
.. and hold a higher value - because they can train others to do my work .. lowering the value of my job - and making the results cheaper - thus .. according to capatolism .. they should be paid more :)
:) now im a capitalist :)
funnily enough though . they entire country has a SHORTAGE on teachers. Baltimore County alone has over 40 vacencies this year that probally won't be filled.
teachers are not hired on supply and demand, but on the state/town/provine's school budget.
The next town over (Perry Hall) has a population of over 400,000 people
There is a plan to build 2000 more townhouses by the end of this year
Intrinsic worth aside - Teachers do more work than i do
see
yeah .. her health benifits are ok .. not great .. just ok.
.. she gets 2-3 months off . but she also doesnt get PAID for those months. $31k is her yearly income .. [now granted .. most education systems have 'summer clubs' you pay into .. and they distribute you checks all year long.]
.. remember .. just because the kids have it off .. doesn't mean the teachers do .. she often goes to workshops or staff lectures on 'national' holidays.
.. she would immediatly loose her job. [doesn't seem like a big deal till you teach in horrible areas]
.. tenure means they control her *LIFE* .. she is expected to be a 'presentable member of society' 24/7 .. one of her colleages was fired last year because one of the board of education was at the same superbowl pary (in a bar downtown) and the poor guy was drunk in public .. there is a suit .. but who knows how thats gonna play out.
.. because it may have a 'negative connotation' as to the status of a teacher's position in society.
.. she gets raises every year .. usually 1% or less . of course .. keep in mind everyone ELSE gets raises on seniority. As well as promotions, so .. by your own argument .. it doesn't matter if your a GOOD teacher .. or an active teacher .. you just have to be a teacher .. and eventually - your running a school.
.. by the way .. tenure ONLY works in your county and in some cases .. only your school .. if you ever move schools/jobs/grades .. often you loose your tenure . How many IT people would gnaw their own arm off working for the same company for 30 years?) have 4-6 reviews a year .. if you have 3 of them bad .. your gone .. tenure or not. [usually gone means your not fired .. but you get to go teach at the 'correctional' schools where they send all the kids who like the sharpen spoons.
.. now .. i'm not sure why you decided to attack me .. but here are the answers to your questions.
.. compared to a teacher .. i don't do anything' statement ?
.. I actually went to college - and yes .. i have a degree in C.S. .. but in the grand scheme of things ? I don't do *ANYTHING* important for society .. unless you count building web-pages about powertools important. .. unless something horrible happens at work ..i'm home .. and my life is mine.
.. you can't exactly run around your house in a bikini. [not our case .. just an example.]
.. my father was a cop] and fire-fighters. And as such .. they are on the job a lot more than you would thing.
.. mr Flame. I'm crying about how our country under-evulates education - and how that is gonna kill us in the end.
.. if you don't understand the thrust of this line of thinking .. maybe our school systems are already failing.
yes
she gets the same paid holidays everyone else gets
tenure doesn't mean anything. in like 1950 it did. but for example, if a student were to start hitting her - and she defended herself and the student got hurt in *ANY* way
also
female teachers are not allowed to get restraunt jobs in baltimore county (during the summer) or god forbid at a bar
and yes
doesnt that give you the warm-fuzzies ?
as for the 'just show up thing' - even tenured teachers (and
so
as for why you decided to attack me personally with my 'comment on how
maybe you value your own worth too much ? what I do is important to my company , and im pretty well compensated for it . Im not some fly-by-night web-monkey
By 'Sit on my A$$' i mean that I do a normal 9-10 hour day and go home. But when i'm home
Public school teacher's don't have that luxury , if your next door neigebor is one of your students
Teachers are 'public servents' like cops [don't get me started on that
I'm not crying about our life
Of course
Im a webmaster, my wife is a middle school teacher.
.. she makes just over 30k
.. lets say she makes 31,000 a full 12 month year (with no summer jobs or incentive teaching programs) [which .. by the way .. most teachers have to do to make ends meet .. having their summers off is a crock.]
.. and we are assuming that she only has each student once.
.. that she is geting approx $0.42 cents a child per hour (and forget all the decimal places)
.. so i have to figure the going rate is probally around 2 .. but i get a break cause there are a lot of cool toys in the house ;) [www.remsbox.com]
.. the first insult is that my wife gets paid less than a 13 year old kid .. and needed a BA + certification to have that priveledge.
.. *PER YEAR* - that works out to $0.02 (rounded up) a day in art supplies ..
.. all those wondeful taxes you pay to the government for "schools" is buying your 12 year old son $0.44 cents a day worth of education. (you can multiply that out for 7 classes yourself .. but keep in mind .. not all those classes have such a lavish budget.)
:
.. sit on my a$$ all day .. fill out some code .. then go home.
.
I work for a a fortune 500 , she works for the county of a fairly well known city.
I make a little under 70k a year
I did the math once on how 'valuable' she was to society.
she has about 300 students a day:
and for argument
that makes her monthly (pre tax) salery about 2,583 - $646 a week - $129 a day [this is pre tax mind you] for a 5 day work week. that means she is paid $0.40 cents a student per day.
she has 7 classes that are 50 mins long
lets for argument say
I can hire my 13 year old neigebor as a baby sitter for the premium price of $1.50 an hour.
kids used to get $1 an hour when i was 13ish
so
NOW lets talk about her budget.
She has an annual budget of $1000 for art supplies. thats $3.33 (ish) cents per child
so far
Add into this the job descriptions of
- must argue with irate parents over their failing kids
- must 'teach' class-sizes of 35+ students
- must contact parents 2 times verbally and 1 time in writing before failing a child. [regardless of their performance , or even ATTENDANCE]
- must police halls
- must immediatly report any child on 'agressive profile' list (a-la colembine)
- must pay for extra art supplies out of her own pocket or explain to children why they are drawing with water on bathroom tissue AGAIN.
- must not call on 2 boys in a row, or two girls, or two children of the same nationality, may not correct a student's answer when they answer a question wrong. [ever notice how your teachers always asked at least 3 kids before correcting 'all of you?' they get in trouble if they dont.]
- must not ever touch a child in any way. [a teacher in our county was sued by a family because she tried to catch a child who was falling (due to ironically , her twin brother tripping her) the child suffered a sprained arm where the teacher grabbed her as her head was rushing towards teh concreate)
these are only the tip of the iceberg.
I on the otherhand
are IT professionals overpaid compared to people who do other 'necessairy' jobs ? yeh . I have to say that we are.
Its just a personal pet peve of mine that teachers, the folks who are RESPONSABLE for us being smart enough to do this work . get shafted
Baltimore County cant seem to find any $$ when her school's heaters break, but they found enough $$ to build a by-way that allowed a contracter to build 4,500 townhouses in a previously unreachable tract of land.
to really throw injury on insult, they predict that the community raised by at least 6000 familys this year, and her school cut 7 positions.
how's that for efficiency ?
kinda like the difference between Nickers and Knackered .. A lession well learned while conversing with a (very attractive) co-worker when I was living in Nottingham.
but she looked *SOO* cute slapping me.
LOL .. talk about being petty ;P
not sure ..
all that was based on about a year ago when I asked a friend of mine who (then) worked for a distributino company in CA about getting Grease on DVD for my mom.
Actually there are several movies that will probally never make it to DVD
.. what MEDIA .. those films could legally be released in.
.. there are clauses that prohibit them being distributed on 'any other' media than those specified. (hence .. DVD's)Having just lost to the VCR .. and thinkig it was going to kill them .. they didn't want to take any future chances.
.. im sure they would like to make a bundle off an indiana jones box set. (and pump the upcoming movie.)
.. if they break these contracts themselves.. it will set legal precident that says new distribution methods not spelled out in a contract are ok ( including morphius et. al. ) so they aren't gonna go that route anytime soon.
.. and re-write them.
Indiana Jones, Grease, etc etc.
it all revolves around distribution contracts from the mid to late 80's (maybe a bit earlier).
In the distribution contracts (since the motion picture agency was paranoid about vcr's at the time - and had just lost their case where they tried to do away with them) for a time in any new/renewed distribution contract. They spelled out EXACTLY what methods and specifically
in the case of grease, or raiders of the lost art
i bet the draconian leeches in the motion picture distribution chain are kicking themselves now
saddly
Best bet is for them to wait untill the contract / licences expire or come up for renewal
I hope he doesnt leave the country alot .. .. and make major bucks once the airport security guys insist on pulling the wires out of his arm.
.. i have to say this is neat .. especially how this technology could lead to 'filtering' nerve impulses through a processor for things like 'MS' or maybe parkensons.
otherwise he may have to get involved in a scandolous lawsuit
and stealing his sunglasses.
But back on topic
or another posibility (off the cuff) allowing people with severe burns or severd nerves to regain tactile feeling in their hands (even if its simulated)
oh .. true *duh*
.. err ... oneself though .. can they ?
.. you DO have the right to refuse counsel.
.. IANAL (never had to say that before) grin.
im not 100% sure the court can refuse to allow oneself to represent
i mean
I dunno
he already did .. twice
"It was the second time Heckenkamp fired his lawyers -- in January, he had a federal magistrate appoint him as his own counsel, only to change his mind the same day. "
*tries to bite back comment about READING the articles*
Not only is it sad that this kid was able to get rid of his council (twice) .. but he is ovbiously either REALLY moronic ..
..
:
or he is going for an insaniy plea
he did manage to menauver the judge into saying
"The comments that you are making to the court lead me to suspect that either you are playing games with the court, or you're experiencing a serious lack of judgment."
its only a hop skip and a jump from there to have the judge decide that he ALWAYS shows a lack of judgement, and its a medical condition.
he will have to take lithium forever, but at least he wont do hard time. (again)
of course .. i was only making a point .. .. .. say .. bank reports .. in COBOL possibly
.. .. i could just make a fuction of each called in the main function .. and replace as needed..
.. that theory is the best way to do it if you can.
.. but its true)
..i just replace that whole funcion (or the inclue/library or whatever it is this month)
but to be a devil's advocate
if you are writing very modular stuff
you might have a function that changes when your vendor requires tweaks to their reports.
so i might have a function PrintBankofAmerica();
which calls a database, sorts etc , and generates a report
of course
works good in the classroom, not always in 30 year old systems *grin*. But yes
People Bank's data may be pulled from an Oracle Database, and Bank of America off Reel to reel.
and that may change on any given day dependong on the branch (shudder to think it
My point was more that you can't depend on function names totally to describe complex functions.
and one whole concept of a function in modular programming is to increase the abstration (like objects in C) so to replace the Bank of America reporting block
but yes , i agree , multiple functions that perform simple steps is the way to go if you have that luxury.
Commenting code is essential.
.. the whole scope of an existing project might have changed directions 2-3 times. What may seem an 'obvious' goal to you .. now .. working on the project .. Might be something that is not a goal later on.
.. yeah .. they can see what your *doing* , but that doesnt mean they know why your doing it.
.. dont like naming my functions 'pullDataFromDatabaseAndSortItForRepeatsWhichWeSen dToAReport' a bit cludgey.
.. when we stopped using punch cards (and even then people used to jot notes on cards) and I still think its a good practice if you want to write code that can be used/modified even five years after its inception.
..
..
.. we don't need a book every time either.
if you think that anyone will be able to get what you were doing 2 years after you left/were replaced - your fooling yourself.
within 2 years
Yet your function is still there.
If your code is clean
And I for one
Commenting your code has been around since the late 70's/early 80's
Not to mention that it might be nice to know where your incoming variables are coming from
or what they are expected to do.
$loop is pretty self defining
so is $array
but having a comment '// This function pulls an array of repeated fields, and outputs them to a report'
took me only about 4 seconds to type. and saves someone the time of huting through other code to see what REFERENCES your funcion.
*emote*gets off his horse*/emote*
but granted
My gut instinct (like many people here im sure) was to say . 'GREAT .. now M$ has to fix their holes.'
.. after thinking about it (and finishing the article) Many smaller companies (shareware/freeware) are gonna get nailed on this first.
.. anyone wanna bet how quickly the new M$ department that checks for vulnarabilities in compedator's products would get formed ? Why spend years in court .. when you can just bury them in paperwork *THAT THEY LEGALLY ARE RESPONSABLE FOR*.
.. vote no.
Bad move on my part
The one man-opensource-grassroots guys are gonna get hammered.
Hell
I for one
chuckle .. i don't care much for the mass media .. .. I have read the National Review . [I still read it , as well as what London and Tokyo(english) papers I can get my hands on when i visit the library .. but back to that time thing :( ]
.. which saddly .. must be taken with just as much as a grain of salt as anything in print now adays.
.. which rubs me the wrong way sometimes. Journalism is supposed to be objective, not passion filled. It hard to get the facts when you are only give the ones that put the correct 'spin' on a story. Which means that the 'average' guy/gal probally wont have the time/resources to find out what the truth really is. Especially if it doesn't affect them.
.. the current US "recession" .. when the media .. lacking anything better to talk about .. start saying that the economy is going to get worse, what does the general public do ? buy a new car ? or put $$ in the bank ? If the econmy is going to get worse .. and people stop spending $ is it going to get better any time soon ?)
..I'm not a big fan of organized religion. However .. I'm not exactly saying 'Stone the God Fear-ers' here .. as far as i'm concened .. religion is a personal thing .. your conversations between you and your God/Goddess/Golden Statue/etc. Its for spititual enrichment of your soul. key words..
.. but yours.
.. its what our country was founded on.. its the door-to-door-save-your-soul-peer-in-your-windows-t o-see-if-your-sinning folks that tork me off.
.. if their God gave us that choice .. who is the current gov't to take it away with 'religious overtones' ?
.. should be made with the *country* in mind.
.. even Rome had corruption, and they had less stuff to distract them .. aside from Gaul .. that was a big one.
.. there really is no 'majoity' in the U.S.A anymore . the only thing that comes close is the potential for 51% of the population to me female. [I have no idea what the national average is] but to try to get 51% of any other subset is almost impossible. Not to say that decisions should be based on 1/2 of the country .. but thats just an example.
.. is basing a scientific decision, on a platform like religion. There isn't a religious group in the U.S.A (including Roman Catholics) that holds the majority of the country. Some groups (obviouly) of american citizens's religions have no issues with this .. Some american's .. *gasp* don't even believe in a higher power.
.. and what I object to .. is why are we making decisions that could stifle our progress as a race (human .. not colour) in this country, based on criteria that isn't a part of everyone's life.
.i know .. if we don't consider beyond basic needs, then we have no society .. and i know im making this a lot simpler than it really is .. but im not writing a thesis here :P just chatting about my views :P]
..don't mistake any of my rambling for getting my bristles up. I can get passionate about topics like this (and jump around in a topic like a monkey on speed) but really, discussing matters , in forums like /. really just lets me pin down my ever evolving values.
.. maybe tomorrow i'll think its a good decision. You can't form your opinions with out looking at opposing views.
the wallstreet journal, and the local morning paper is all i really read for U.S. papers.
more of a time factor than anything
plus stuff online
I generally don't read pulp mags either.
I agree with you that most news outlets are very liberal
(case
Yes
*your soul* not mine, not the guy down the street, not President Bush's nor that bacteria in a petri dish's soul
I'm more than willing to say that people deserve this right
most major religions say we have a choice in our actions, catholosism says that their God *gave* us that choice. to go full circle
[why did seperation of church & state happen in the first place?]
im stating that political decisions for an entire country
Broad sweeping general decisions, like *cloning is bad because it kills potential fetus* are very dangerous. [as im sure you agree] Are they acting in the nation's best interest ? like a true democratic gov't would ? Doubtful
It just scares the living pants of me whenever decisions like this are made because honestly
What I think i object more to than anything
What I wan't to know
[yes yes .
Lol
who knows
actually .. both have been publicized heavily in the papers over here in the U.S. recently. The euro when europe switched .. the Yen just recently with the Steel embargos on Japan.
.. or maybe even any other non U.S. country that won an olympic medal in the event of the questionee's choice.]
.. possibly how the government is letting those damn hippies ruin the country's 'family values'.] particularly over here in America, where medical doctors have been murdered becuase they performed an abortion sometime in their life. Or where large groups of religious people have manged to win frivilious law suits, or sway opinion vs the 'public' norm.
.. i would be surprized.
I wouldn't have chosen those two examples if not for the publicity. [maybe I would have questioned the sales tax rate for the states that surround the one they live in
I was,however, insinuating that religious right people ignore news that does not pertain to their (often) narrow view of the world. [generally the state they live in
example: here in maryland, one of the towns near D.C. refused to allow 'santa clause' to appear in their traditional thanksgiving parade. This was publicized as a 'town tradition' (grain of salt) The town banned 'santa' not becuase of the NYC bombing, not because of safty issues. But because a small (less than 20) group of religious people said it was insulting because they didn't believe in celebrating christmas.
If that doesnt give me evidance that people who spout religious dogma can't influence society more than the 'average' american joe - well
A somewhat techno-geek example would be allowing a MSCE to replace all the Apples in public school learning labs with windows machines (at tax-payer expense) because 'they dont know how to maintain a MAC' rather than learning how to work the existing system.
Its sad to think that I will probally be the last generation in my family to have known the USA as a technological superpower.
.. im registered as a Republician, and fairly conservative about stuff in general. I'm ironically a futurist. I think we should be more green, use cleaner technology, and improve our life/life style. But keeping the cost to future generations in account.
.. its TODAY that counts.
.. we are going to isolate ourselves from new technology .. new ideas. [fun experiment, ask your average religious right how much the yen is at .. or the euro .. and see if they know.]
.. and you will understand what i mean.] When a society isolates itself socially, it stagnates. They may have been a super-power economy once, but the bubble burst - and with that loss of economy, the last 40 years of growing pains are showing.
.. some to make a point, some to save time.
With increasing restrictions on scientific study, assanine patent law, and scientific monopolies - it seems everyone is out for either the buck or the moral highground. [or a political office.]
Hobbes would be proud, since he was the first to preach that to inturrupt the 'process' of god was a sin. Apparantly cloning (as well as violent video games and open source software) falls into this catagory.
Am i using a sweeping generality , you betchya`. Is it far from the truth ? not really as far as I would like it to be.
While i must say
Apparantly the way the govt slid the last 8 years, was to pander to the highest voting majority, go back to our 16th centruy religious roots, and avoid change.
change apparantly is evil. and will destroy our 'family' values. Whatever values they have 'saved' in 15 years when people are mutating horribly due to all the petrolium toxins in the air/water/soil won't matter
As the US becomes more and more self centered and less a 'world' player
Anyone see what japan did ? Japanese as a culture are rather xenophobic. [Just watch a 6 foot tall black man walk down a street in Yokohama
Incest between mother and son is common due to bonds formed from 'exam' stress. Rape and molestation is practicaly a way of life for young girls. And 12 year old prostitutes in the Tokyo/yokahama area are not only common, but ALMOST accepted. Theft and crime, once unthinkable (outside organized gangs) are becoming common place.
Again, im being general here
I just wonder, how much of 'protecting our values' Japan did 10-15 years ago. Are we repeating the same social mistakes? By refusing to let our scientists to explore? When our future is being decided by people who are holding onto beliefs that were founded 2000 years ago, when the world (to them) comprised of about 1/3 of europe - is that system equiped to handle the way the world is now ?
would you choose to program your new graphics application in C++ ? or COBOL ?
You have obviously not eaten at Shogun Jpn on Charles Street.
:)
Or seen a film at the Senator Theatre
Charles Street in Baltimore is the (more or less) "alternative-lifestyle-zone(tm)' of Baltimore.
You want good sushi, great dance clubs, and clothing/furnature shops ? thats the place to go.
You wanna get mugged ? go over to Security Blvd and stand still for about 30 seconds.
Baltimore Big Business Quotes:
"When we gonna get us some of that them there health care Hon ?"
"If we could switch to Solar Panels, we would use a lots less Earl (oil)."
"Whys that there stadium say PSI-NET? Whoz that Hon ?"
"Yea, this heres the new business capitals, we're right between Warshington and Napolis."
[non baltimore residents need not laugh]
Why does eveyone whine about having to acutally PAY for something ? How many people here are professionals, and how many are starving college kids ? [And why are some of the professionals ACTING like starving college kids?]
.. $5 isnt a lot of money. Hell. thats going without my daily Star-Crack(tm) coffee addiction once a month. Hell ! its only 1/2 a pinball and i replace like 1 of those a month!
.. cool. I mean .. i read /. almost daily ..so ..
.. they don't spend a lot of time on /. It not gonna scare the casual reader .. the only people i *do* see it bothering are the people 40+ karma ... who post alot, and are actually providing content for free.
.. people come here just as much for the commentary as the articles (and in the case of John Katz or the current report on the newest star wars trailer that is 2 seconds longer than the last one .. maybe MORE for the comments than the articles.)
.. is /. gonna get 'dumb-ed down' ?
sieriously though
For something that adds value
My big fear is what its going to do to the 'constructive' user.
Its not going to scare away trolls
I mean
If a large number of 'interesting' posters stop posting as much
Err .. a few glaring errors:
.. thats far from 50% as your average cable company charges $45-$50 a month.
... they were essentually a reseller. They leased lines from the 5 major backbones, and in turn acted as a gateway between the cable companies and those backbones .. more or less getting them a 'volume' discount.
.. the contracts probally HELPED the end consumer, as cable franchises we're not allowed to go above a certain price cap, and we're not allowed to sell 'tiered services (like business lines at business rates'. After @Home said it was gonna go bust .. whats the FIRST thing all the cable companies did. Answer: raise their rates .. when the lawyers got no $$ .. you automagically win in court.
.. not to these imagined things.
Cable companies paid @Home $13.00 a subscriber
@Home didn't build anything
@Home's contracts were for being part of the @Home franchise. {still recogonizable} and for their hosting e-mail and web space. thats it.
In all actualily
When you throw on top of that Beer-Day Fridays, free massages, and the Sucking black hole which is Excite.com, thats where the $$ went
Once Excite came online, those vampires sucked @Home for every penny. I had to deal with no less than FOUR account reps once a week for about 3 months just to sync up our local market homepage 'headlines' with their main page. Thats a lot of wasted man hours that could have been avoided with 1 simple statement.
[Did I mention there was a slide in the main office, made it easier to get downstairs on Beer-Day Friday]
chuckle .. you think they don't make money ?
.. about $40 a month minimum)
.. because the cable internet division didn't PAY for the expansion .. Digital Cable TV did. Cable internet cost them NOTHING to do .. and was hindsight . the hardware was already in place after they did digital TV.
.. where did that $15 a month go ? .. why did they raise the rates $5 last Aug)
Forgetting that not every business makes $$ (on papaer) within the first 5 years - [I would be suspicious of any big business who's plan SHOWED them making it before then.] You can rest assured, they are making $$.
I used to work for comcast.
the average subscriber pays $40 a month for broadband. (if they have cable TV
$15 of that went to @home.
and the majority of the rest went into the coffers.
don't say expansion to me
a medium of streaming video.
the kicker is
(and for non comcast customers