This seems a good option if you're wealthy enough to afford a year abroad (esp. Japan) focusing on language learning without having to worry about work. I don't know a lot of fellow IT workers who can pull that off, but I'm sure there are plenty who can.
It also assumes you can just legally show up in a country and remain for a full year, and then remain after that year to work, which I don't think is possible everywhere. Most countries want to know why you're there and for how long. For instance, when I lived in Holland for three years in the '90s, the default option an American got coming over with his passport in hand was a 90-day tourist visa. If you stayed on longer than that you could get deported. I was lucky enough to be in a band full time, so it wasn't like I was looking for "white jobs", where your legal status in the country is something they ask about, but as I started to get comfortable there and started making plans to stay full time, and legally, working legit jobs, it started to become important for me to start working towards legal residency. And in a country like Holland, with the social system they have, it wasn't impossible, but it wasn't easy. A lot of people (from all over the world) wanted in on that social system.
Even with those two issues surmounted, I don't get that it's detrimental to learning a language to land a job and to start working right away. You still have to go out and socialize (from buying bread at the bakery, to trying to hook up with the local vegetation at the night clubs), so you're going to be forced to learn at least some of the local language -- even in the most English-friendly (but non-natively English speaking) countries.
I got this DVD about a week ago that runs through some nice demos, covers basic principles, and focuses on using super cheap gear (instead of selling you on expensive soldering stations, strippers, etc.). It comes replete with examples of how to wire your telecaster. I found it inspiring enough for me to start wiring my own guitar electronics.
I have had extremely short wait times and have found their customer service to be exceptional. A couple times I was 15+ days late with my payments and if I called them and said, "hey I can't pay you for another 10 days, but I will pay as soon as the check comes" they would immediately restore any services. I've found this type of attitude extremely comforting on those rough, lean months.
And as for availabity, It's been my best ISP experience as well. I think I've been down for a couple hours 2 times in the last year.
You're right though, it all does come at a premium. They're certainly not cheap by any stretch.
Yes, we are heading in the direction of a cashless society, which is nice and convenient---if you choose to have a trackable identity, and if you fit in and embrace all the rules and restrictions.
I remember when I was reading a lot of Ayn Rand where she spoke of gold as being an objective standard of value and that when we started moving to paper currency (and now e-currency) that we are losing something..... although what I am too burnt out to remember.
I guess it's just a little scary to think that our future monetary unit could be made of nothing but ether, and the value of which is determined by some accountant in the murky bowels of some bureacracy.
I don't think there's much we can do to stop it.
After all, isn't it nice to pay for gas with a credit/bank card, rather than having to go in, wait on line and talk to the guy behind the counter?
Am I the only one who thinks this is a scam? Wake up!
None of the links in this e-mail are to legit domains. The pages at the domain names looked put up in a hurry by an amateur.
When I did an ARIN WHOIS search on the domains, they were so fresh that no names were registered for them.
The Red Cross says it never sends unsolicited requests for such services....
And when I called the numbers in that e-mail, no one said they were affiliated with any proper organization.
I think Americans should vent some of their bigoted hate at these scamsters for capitalizing on people's willingness to help injured and murdered people.
Slashdot Mirror
This seems a good option if you're wealthy enough to afford a year abroad (esp. Japan) focusing on language learning without having to worry about work. I don't know a lot of fellow IT workers who can pull that off, but I'm sure there are plenty who can.
It also assumes you can just legally show up in a country and remain for a full year, and then remain after that year to work, which I don't think is possible everywhere. Most countries want to know why you're there and for how long. For instance, when I lived in Holland for three years in the '90s, the default option an American got coming over with his passport in hand was a 90-day tourist visa. If you stayed on longer than that you could get deported. I was lucky enough to be in a band full time, so it wasn't like I was looking for "white jobs", where your legal status in the country is something they ask about, but as I started to get comfortable there and started making plans to stay full time, and legally, working legit jobs, it started to become important for me to start working towards legal residency. And in a country like Holland, with the social system they have, it wasn't impossible, but it wasn't easy. A lot of people (from all over the world) wanted in on that social system.
Even with those two issues surmounted, I don't get that it's detrimental to learning a language to land a job and to start working right away. You still have to go out and socialize (from buying bread at the bakery, to trying to hook up with the local vegetation at the night clubs), so you're going to be forced to learn at least some of the local language -- even in the most English-friendly (but non-natively English speaking) countries.
I got this DVD about a week ago that runs through some nice demos, covers basic principles, and focuses on using super cheap gear (instead of selling you on expensive soldering stations, strippers, etc.). It comes replete with examples of how to wire your telecaster. I found it inspiring enough for me to start wiring my own guitar electronics.
"Somebody needs to set up a site where we can donate money to the OpenBSD project through PayPal or some other convenient method."
http://www.openbsd.org/orders.html
I have had extremely short wait times and have found their customer service to be exceptional. A couple times I was 15+ days late with my payments and if I called them and said, "hey I can't pay you for another 10 days, but I will pay as soon as the check comes" they would immediately restore any services. I've found this type of attitude extremely comforting on those rough, lean months.
And as for availabity, It's been my best ISP experience as well. I think I've been down for a couple hours 2 times in the last year.
You're right though, it all does come at a premium. They're certainly not cheap by any stretch.
I thought they already had one?
You just got to get her to agree to let you swipe it!
Yes, we are heading in the direction of a cashless society, which is nice and convenient---if you choose to have a trackable identity, and if you fit in and embrace all the rules and restrictions.
I remember when I was reading a lot of Ayn Rand where she spoke of gold as being an objective standard of value and that when we started moving to paper currency (and now e-currency) that we are losing something..... although what I am too burnt out to remember.
I guess it's just a little scary to think that our future monetary unit could be made of nothing but ether, and the value of which is determined by some accountant in the murky bowels of some bureacracy.
I don't think there's much we can do to stop it.
After all, isn't it nice to pay for gas with a credit/bank card, rather than having to go in, wait on line and talk to the guy behind the counter?
That would suffice.
The only crypto backdoors I wanna see are those that can be found in musty, dank and dark bathhouses.....
_IF_ you know what I mean.
*Wink Wink*
Am I the only one who thinks this is a scam? Wake up!
None of the links in this e-mail are to legit domains. The pages at the domain names looked put up in a hurry by an amateur.
When I did an ARIN WHOIS search on the domains, they were so fresh that no names were registered for them.
The Red Cross says it never sends unsolicited requests for such services....
And when I called the numbers in that e-mail, no one said they were affiliated with any proper organization.
I think Americans should vent some of their bigoted hate at these scamsters for capitalizing on people's willingness to help injured and murdered people.
"http://www.commonwealthpolice.com/Free_Stuff/Crim minalProcedure312_388/7police_interrogation_record ing_e.htm"
"you know. for kids."