IT replaces... Porn, spam, and chainmail?!?
on
What is 'IT'?
·
· Score: 1
"According to the inventor of "Ginger," Dean Kamen, his device will be an alternative to products that "are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."
Hmm, Porn, spam, and chainmail are frustrating to me, dirty, expensive when they slow down my network, and dangerous if you're a user caught with these things on my network... So, maybe IT replaces that stuff?
Seriously though, I remember an article a few years ago with someone testing out designs for personal aircraft and hovercraft to replace cars. The designs were smaller than automobiles and used the same amount of fuel from what I remember. The automakers would poop themselves if this was the case and the oil industry would kill it with cash payouts to politians if it used less or different fuel sources than autos.
Pretty thought provoking even if it is just a hoax.
Would you like to see all news articles sponsored by government censored or would you like to see all news articles critical of corporations censored on coprorately patrolled web sites?
Neither is a good option, thus I would think that a net that is for the people and run by the people is best, pretty much the way it is now and always was.
Speech may be free, but the brains to process and filter the information you hear or see is your responsibility. Do not rely on government or the boss to tell you what truth is and is not. If you find something hard to believe, check into it yourself and make an educated choice.
The last thing I'd want to see is any government involvement. I doubt that the government would step in since they won't get any bribes from lobyists to do so on behalf of the workers, but if they did it would only be a token measure and likely to cause more problems for both parties than any good the government might do. (just look at any government involvement to see my point).
At issue is how we use technology and how technology uses us. Technology will not stop, it is human nature to invent and improve upon invention. Yet in that process we change ourselves with the technology we create. We must learn to recognize and acknowledge those changes in order to benefit from them and keep them from harming us. All technology has the potential to be usefull or harmfull, it is up to us to determine which it will be.
So, we as people need to change things for ourselves and change ourselves by doing so. In this aspect, we must redetermine how much power our jobs have over our lives and figure out how much we give our employers in return for that portion of our lives to see if it is a fair exchange. Nobody can make us do something we do not wish to do willingly, employees in general must learn this and learn that the companies they work for need them as much asa they think they need the employers.
There is alot that we can do about this problem of work creeping into our lives. The last option should be government, the first should be ourselves. Form a guild, an association, an union. Refuse to work for slave driving corporations, turn the pagers off, turn those cellphone ringers off. Live your life when you go home and go home at a normal hour, the money is not worth your life, is it?
With my years of experience in the industry I would say that there is some evidence of racism in IT. There are some places that I have worked that were very diverse and there are other places that were whiter than a saltine, and there were other places that were pretty damn white except for the H1B laborers that were put in for cheap labor.
The racism in IT takes a couple forms now, either by a failure to hire or allow for the growth of minorities in IT or the growing hostility towards HIB visa holders.
Yet, I find that the most interesting dilemma out there in IT land is that there is an alarming instance of AGEISM... If you're near 40 or over then you are almost definitely NOT going to get hired anywhere. With the supposed shortage that allows for H1B visa increases it's suprizing that there are so many qualified and interested candidates out there who cannot get hired or advance into needed roles within their organizations.
There is a serious problem in IT, not just fo minorities but for those of different ages, classes, nationalities, and everyone else. If you don't see that there is a problem then you are either a fool or have put the blinders on yourself out of ignorance or hatred, of the two they are hard to tell apart.
Your post is thought provoking and I'm suprized that it was not modded up. I too see a dark future in amerika based on the apathy and mindless consumerism of today. Americans will eventually sell themselves into slavery for a false dream of consumer bliss and I don't want to be here to be sold along with them.
I would go to Europe where the people take to the streets and DO something when they feel wronged. Where the idealists and anarchists riot against those in power when they go too far but take great pains to avoid mindless looting and the harming of the innocent in the process. People seem to think out there and don't seem afraid to do something, unlike the people here in america which used to be the home of the brave.
But, I will likely stay here since I feel as though it is my duty as a citizen in america to fight against the things I see as being wrong. We should all (in every nation) be held responsible for what our governments become for our governments (and corporations) rely on us much more than we need them.
The only true power they hold is the fear of them that they put in our minds and the loathing of each other that they put in our hearts. That is how government works, they work on fear and intimidation and it's a myth that we need them.
But, while people demand to be servents to governments then it is our duty as citizens to make sure the governments do not become tyranical or overly oppressive. I may be an anarchist in the sense that I believe that the best government is no government at all, but I am realistic in that the human race may not be prepared for that step.
So, I say don't run away from injustice, stand up to it and refuse to give it power. When something is wrong you must do something about it or you become a part of that which is wrong.
The only influence the Green party and Nader had on the Democrats were to enrage the democrats enough to make them threaten greivous bodily harm upon Nader on live t.v. right after the election. One party official stated that he would "strangle Nader with my bare hands". I always thought that threats of that nature were deemed investigatable events to the SS in america.
I don't think third parties and independents have as much power as you think they do in america. The only change next time will be that the democrats will pay attention to third parties that get any noteriety and they will squash them with slanderous ads left, right, and center. They have too much money and power to concern themselves with the likes of Nader and other individuals.
How do we compare the tax rates when taxes are so nested in multiple layers that we can never truely understand exactly how much we really pay in taxes once everything is tallied up?
Think about it, I don't know about the rest of the world to be honest, but this is the frustrating thing about american taxes.
Here we pay:
social security, income tax, real estate tax, gas tax, sin tax, highway tolls, death tax, sales tax, import tax, corporate tax, license tax, etc...
Now, on top of that and the variations in each of those taxes for each individual we have the taxes we never see when we purchase goods, ie, the taxes that get passed on to us by the people that make the goods we buy and the people that transport those goods.
None of you can tell me for sure exactly how much of my income is REALLY taxed when you come down to it and consider all the money we give to our government. Give me back the money I give to the government so I can buy my own security, my own medical benefits, my own retirement, etc. I'm a better shopper than the government will ever be and anyone can buy what the government buys if they want it bad enough.
What is patriotism, is it love of country or love of government? Are government and country the same?
I like america and the principles on which it is based on as a nation. I do not like what america has become as a people and as a government. Does this make me a enemy of america or does this make me patriotic for wanting it to change for the better?
Well, the founding fathers seemed to think that being patriotic meant that one should fight repression and wrong to make government right and when government grew too oppressive that one should overthrow that government and replace it. A little revolution is a good thing it seems as there were patriots before there was a country called the US or a government for it.
However, government is an interesting beast, it protects itself from internal threats more ferociously than it does against enemies of the government from other nations. The questions that we must ask as patriotic americans are, is the present government that we have the best that we can get? If there is something wrong with our government can it be correct within the system of that government? And has our government gotten so out of hand that we are obligated to overthrow it as good americans are supposed to do?
Yes, I'm a bit of an anarchist. But maybe being so is the best way for me to be patriotic, don't you think?
Corporations have become little nations in the US by the way that they barter with the US government and create laws, (policies), to control employee freedom. Sure, you have the freedom to find a different employer, (move to another nation), but the policies (laws) are still just as repressive.
Of course, you could try to start your own business but the economic downturn that we are supposedly having isn't quite consusive for that type of venture.
Sure, you could try to boycott corporations, but there are too many Americans who are too apathetic to make a stand. We are but cattle begging to be caged.
"p.s. If you really believe in freedom, vote Libertarian (sorry, shameless political plug)."
If voting ever changed anything it would be outlawed.
The US' current two party system, (or duopoly), easily prevents any third party or independent candidate from mounting any successful campaign to rival their power. Unless there is a massive change in the way political compaigns are funded and waged then there is no hope of there being a REAL election in the US. Of course, the polititians will decide if there is a change in the political or electoral system and that is as likely as them giving themselves a pay cut.
If you really believe in freedom, become an anarchist, refuse to vote, and tell everyone why it's a sham.
Well, if you have the money you too can buy your freedom!
You say you don't like a law that prevents you from taking advantage of employees? Well get a few lobbyists and give them wads of cash and you too can buy your own law! (please check the changes to IT professionals and overtime laws if you doubt me. Why are only IT pros exempt?)
Want to shut someone up who says what they think of you or your company? Hire a gaggle of lawyers and sue their pants off, if they are poor they won't even be able to afford the court costs!
What's that, you say you want to get a polititian in your back pocket? Just contribute to the polititian's campaign of your choice, that will get anything you want done real quick if you have a few mill to help him buy the election.
Hmm... What makes me think that the founding fathers never intended the US to become "for the money and by the money"? Is anyplace better? Probably not, even though I don't know this first hand. Anywhere that there is a government there is corruption, and where there is corruption there is a lack of freedom.
I never really thought of philosophy as just fatherly advice. Philosophy has improved my ability to critical thinking, to form meaningful arguments designed to draw a difinitive conclusion and not for argument's sake, to question things without blindly accepting, and to make sound judgements of for myself of what perceived right and wrong really are.
I'm sorry but these are not things that my father taught me. His failing, perhaps, but that is the intent of the philisophical studies and it's related fields of logic and ethics.
These are skills that I wish more people had. I also think that we are suffering because there is no value placed for these skills in our present society. These days, it seems that you're only valued if you can make society money, not make society better.
We, the people, give power to governments to govern us. So then it is true also that we, the people, give power to the corporations to govern us as well.
We give power to those who hold power in whatever form, be it the church, the goverment, the businessman, or the banker. It does not matter the form because they cannot hold power without our consent as a society.
America has become many little nations within a nation where companies now make their own little laws for their citizens(workers). Some of these even counter present laws of government and when they do usually government changes those laws. (overtime laws, for example, keep getting more loopholes to exclude more computer professionals).
So, we do know that our society is now geared to make all endevours profitable, yet we haven't evolved enough to know that we need to make society better in order to profit from our endevours.
When compared to other studies, technological advances rocket ahead of our gains in philosophy, ethics, sociology, political sciences, and other areas of human endevour. Why is this? Well, probably because technology brings money and power while the other studies are useless to businessmen. After all, when is the last time you heard of a rich philosopher?
Don't get me wrong, I work with technology and I love those little gadgets more than most people. But since I work with technology I get to see how these wonderfull devices are used.
We have all this potential now to communicate ideas, to share knowledge, to educate. We have devices that are supposed to free ourselves, to make the most of our time, to improve our lives. What does that technology really do? It improves bottom lines, it ties us to the desk, forces us to work longer hours even when at home, it takes us away from our friends and families, forces us to constantly focus on learning about technology instead of about each other and how to better society.
We humans are so good at creating things, at innovating. Yet we are so horrible at dealing with ourselves and learning about how to control the things we create. It is not technology that I fear, it is the human capacity to do harm with technology due to a lack of control. So we race ahead to invent new things but refuse to reinvent ourselves and our society. Is this the best course for us?
It's funny, come one, you laughed didn't you? If you didn't then you need a humor transplant!
Really, what if an atheist created an ISP and filtered out religious sites? When someone tried to type in the URL www.jimmyfarwell.com or something then they would get admonished with a page that said...
"Good thing we stopped you from resorting to the opiate of the masses! Why don't you just do your thinking for yourself and enjoy a game of Tekken Tag?"
I would go into what an agnostic ISP would do but it's not as funny...
I think that there would be fewer lawsuits if the attorneys, plaintifs, and defendents were forced to fight to the death in an arena. Then we would take care of foolish garbage like this and be entertained at the same time...
Seriously, who wouldn't tune in to see a lawyer skewered with a long sword or brained with a mace?
Even if neither of them invented the pop-up ad they should be sued for using the annoying things, sheesh! Mental Anguish, Pain and Suffering due to eye-strain, Loss of Income by wasting my time...
Well, wait, I shouldn't complain since I refuse to visit sites that use pop-ups, maybe it should just be a class action suit.
Let's start from the bottom and go to the top, shall we?
Unions vs guilds or professional organizations. Unions are too corruptable and do more harm to employers and employees alike, they hamper creativity and initiative, thus they are incomaptible with IT workers. A guild would benefit IT workers and the industry as a whole by standardizing the process by which one becomes an IT professional, we could rid ourselves of the debates over vendor certifications and train the new people in real life situations with solid theories as well. As a guild we could contribut to campaigns to the polititians and general public and gain clout with the government and the employers as well.
Now for the age old fight between management and the worker. Who let power get to their heads? Who has power, the worker or the manager? Why is a fair salary a bizarre demand when we train constantly, work long hours, and suffer a high rate of burnout? Why is having a respectfull and productive work environment a bad thing? So sorry we want time off and a say in the way things are run when we have a unique perspective that managers and executives are too high with their own power trips to see.
Being a true techie is a rarity. Sure you can train most people to do the basics but they will never be as productive or as good as the people who do this work out of love for the work itself. Many of the new people comming in are in it for the supposed money and don't care to learn as much as they can about the technology and theory behind it. That's what IT is, constant learning and relearning and those who are in it for the money will never put that kind of investment in IT like I or my peers have.
Of course, PHBs would rather have a brown noser who can blow smoke up their butts while not having a real clue. Who wants someone who can do the job right because they'll just want something unreasonable like respect. We all know that the executives won't stand for that, you can't show employees respect because then they'll start wanting their fair share of the pie and CEOs don't like to share.
Just wipe that brown off your nose, your boss isn't watching you in here...
This is really bad news for us technology professionals. All of the PHBs are going to be reading propaganda like this for a while to come now and all the hard work we have done as individualists to get employers to respect us through our rare skills will come back to haunt us. The tyrannical bosses will decide that all that turnover was just a fad and they really didn't have to treat IT pros with respect and fairness.
Back to the industrial age for us all as the people who left to get fair treatment lose thier backbones and crawl back to the PHBs to beg for thier old jobs at entry level pay.
We should have banned together when we could have rivaled the ITAA and other corporate interests by joining our resources for our benefit as a group of professionals. We should have formed a guild, (not a union) to pay off polititians to counter the industry and to make our opinions heard.
Is it too late? I don't know... I suppose it depnds on how long it takes most of us to realize how much this could damage us as a group of employees and how bad it can get if we refuse to do something...
How do you know? What is the final percentage of what Americans are taxed when one includes all of the very subtle ways in which the government earns it's living from it's people?
Did you count the gasoline taxes? Did you count how the gasoline taxes are passed on to the people when the deliverers of good have to pay them? Did you count the way the gasoline tax is passed on to the people when they go to the grocery store? What about the double tax on items already purchased when they are passed on to our children after we die? What about the taxes that companies pay for materials that they pass on to consumers?
Has someone been able to add up all of these taxes and come up with a final percentage that any average citizen of America can expect to give for his or her government? Why does the government have to collect taxes in such a questionable and secretive way? Why don't they just send it's citizenry a bill each month and do away with all of this subterfuge?
You tell me that we are taxed less than MOST European countries, which one's tax LESS than the USA? By how much? What are the exact numbers? Let me know when you can tell me or point me in a direction where I can get some exact answers backed up by some solid data and I'll be a little more at ease about working for the government when I had no intention to do so.
We Americans don't even realize how much we actually pay in taxes once you start considering the sales taxes, income taxes, gas taxes, tarrif taxes, corporate taxes that spill to the consummer, transport taxes that spill over as well, etc...etc...etc... ad nauseum...
What is one more tax? How much do we really pay for our government? Will we ever know?
When I buy groceries or get my phone bill it is ITEMIZED... Why the heck doesn't the government send me an itemized bill for all the taxes I pay? Why does the government have so many different taxes? What would happen when the people finally figured out how much government really costs?
Tax the internet sales, they'll do it if they want and we're powerless to stop them. Just one more hidden tax on the people that the people didn't ask for. Sounds like a story I heard once about a king and a tea party...
Actually I believe that it is Tempest and the shielding against the RF sniffing is called Tempest Shielding.
Yet, I will be the first to admit that I don't know that for sure since the last time I read up on that was back in 1992 when I ran my Anarchist BBS and worried more than I do now about such things...
Slashdot Mirror
"According to the inventor of "Ginger," Dean Kamen, his device will be an alternative to products that "are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."
Hmm, Porn, spam, and chainmail are frustrating to me, dirty, expensive when they slow down my network, and dangerous if you're a user caught with these things on my network... So, maybe IT replaces that stuff?
Seriously though, I remember an article a few years ago with someone testing out designs for personal aircraft and hovercraft to replace cars. The designs were smaller than automobiles and used the same amount of fuel from what I remember. The automakers would poop themselves if this was the case and the oil industry would kill it with cash payouts to politians if it used less or different fuel sources than autos.
Pretty thought provoking even if it is just a hoax.
Would you like to see all news articles sponsored by government censored or would you like to see all news articles critical of corporations censored on coprorately patrolled web sites?
Neither is a good option, thus I would think that a net that is for the people and run by the people is best, pretty much the way it is now and always was.
Speech may be free, but the brains to process and filter the information you hear or see is your responsibility. Do not rely on government or the boss to tell you what truth is and is not. If you find something hard to believe, check into it yourself and make an educated choice.
The last thing I'd want to see is any government involvement. I doubt that the government would step in since they won't get any bribes from lobyists to do so on behalf of the workers, but if they did it would only be a token measure and likely to cause more problems for both parties than any good the government might do. (just look at any government involvement to see my point).
At issue is how we use technology and how technology uses us. Technology will not stop, it is human nature to invent and improve upon invention. Yet in that process we change ourselves with the technology we create. We must learn to recognize and acknowledge those changes in order to benefit from them and keep them from harming us. All technology has the potential to be usefull or harmfull, it is up to us to determine which it will be.
So, we as people need to change things for ourselves and change ourselves by doing so. In this aspect, we must redetermine how much power our jobs have over our lives and figure out how much we give our employers in return for that portion of our lives to see if it is a fair exchange. Nobody can make us do something we do not wish to do willingly, employees in general must learn this and learn that the companies they work for need them as much asa they think they need the employers.
There is alot that we can do about this problem of work creeping into our lives. The last option should be government, the first should be ourselves. Form a guild, an association, an union. Refuse to work for slave driving corporations, turn the pagers off, turn those cellphone ringers off. Live your life when you go home and go home at a normal hour, the money is not worth your life, is it?
With my years of experience in the industry I would say that there is some evidence of racism in IT. There are some places that I have worked that were very diverse and there are other places that were whiter than a saltine, and there were other places that were pretty damn white except for the H1B laborers that were put in for cheap labor.
The racism in IT takes a couple forms now, either by a failure to hire or allow for the growth of minorities in IT or the growing hostility towards HIB visa holders.
Yet, I find that the most interesting dilemma out there in IT land is that there is an alarming instance of AGEISM... If you're near 40 or over then you are almost definitely NOT going to get hired anywhere. With the supposed shortage that allows for H1B visa increases it's suprizing that there are so many qualified and interested candidates out there who cannot get hired or advance into needed roles within their organizations.
There is a serious problem in IT, not just fo minorities but for those of different ages, classes, nationalities, and everyone else. If you don't see that there is a problem then you are either a fool or have put the blinders on yourself out of ignorance or hatred, of the two they are hard to tell apart.
Your post is thought provoking and I'm suprized that it was not modded up. I too see a dark future in amerika based on the apathy and mindless consumerism of today. Americans will eventually sell themselves into slavery for a false dream of consumer bliss and I don't want to be here to be sold along with them.
I would go to Europe where the people take to the streets and DO something when they feel wronged. Where the idealists and anarchists riot against those in power when they go too far but take great pains to avoid mindless looting and the harming of the innocent in the process. People seem to think out there and don't seem afraid to do something, unlike the people here in america which used to be the home of the brave.
But, I will likely stay here since I feel as though it is my duty as a citizen in america to fight against the things I see as being wrong. We should all (in every nation) be held responsible for what our governments become for our governments (and corporations) rely on us much more than we need them.
The only true power they hold is the fear of them that they put in our minds and the loathing of each other that they put in our hearts. That is how government works, they work on fear and intimidation and it's a myth that we need them.
But, while people demand to be servents to governments then it is our duty as citizens to make sure the governments do not become tyranical or overly oppressive. I may be an anarchist in the sense that I believe that the best government is no government at all, but I am realistic in that the human race may not be prepared for that step.
So, I say don't run away from injustice, stand up to it and refuse to give it power. When something is wrong you must do something about it or you become a part of that which is wrong.
The only influence the Green party and Nader had on the Democrats were to enrage the democrats enough to make them threaten greivous bodily harm upon Nader on live t.v. right after the election. One party official stated that he would "strangle Nader with my bare hands". I always thought that threats of that nature were deemed investigatable events to the SS in america.
I don't think third parties and independents have as much power as you think they do in america. The only change next time will be that the democrats will pay attention to third parties that get any noteriety and they will squash them with slanderous ads left, right, and center. They have too much money and power to concern themselves with the likes of Nader and other individuals.
How do we compare the tax rates when taxes are so nested in multiple layers that we can never truely understand exactly how much we really pay in taxes once everything is tallied up?
Think about it, I don't know about the rest of the world to be honest, but this is the frustrating thing about american taxes.
Here we pay:
social security, income tax, real estate tax, gas tax, sin tax, highway tolls, death tax, sales tax, import tax, corporate tax, license tax, etc...
Now, on top of that and the variations in each of those taxes for each individual we have the taxes we never see when we purchase goods, ie, the taxes that get passed on to us by the people that make the goods we buy and the people that transport those goods.
None of you can tell me for sure exactly how much of my income is REALLY taxed when you come down to it and consider all the money we give to our government. Give me back the money I give to the government so I can buy my own security, my own medical benefits, my own retirement, etc. I'm a better shopper than the government will ever be and anyone can buy what the government buys if they want it bad enough.
What is patriotism, is it love of country or love of government? Are government and country the same?
I like america and the principles on which it is based on as a nation. I do not like what america has become as a people and as a government. Does this make me a enemy of america or does this make me patriotic for wanting it to change for the better?
Well, the founding fathers seemed to think that being patriotic meant that one should fight repression and wrong to make government right and when government grew too oppressive that one should overthrow that government and replace it. A little revolution is a good thing it seems as there were patriots before there was a country called the US or a government for it.
However, government is an interesting beast, it protects itself from internal threats more ferociously than it does against enemies of the government from other nations. The questions that we must ask as patriotic americans are, is the present government that we have the best that we can get? If there is something wrong with our government can it be correct within the system of that government? And has our government gotten so out of hand that we are obligated to overthrow it as good americans are supposed to do?
Yes, I'm a bit of an anarchist. But maybe being so is the best way for me to be patriotic, don't you think?
Corporations have become little nations in the US by the way that they barter with the US government and create laws, (policies), to control employee freedom. Sure, you have the freedom to find a different employer, (move to another nation), but the policies (laws) are still just as repressive.
Of course, you could try to start your own business but the economic downturn that we are supposedly having isn't quite consusive for that type of venture.
Sure, you could try to boycott corporations, but there are too many Americans who are too apathetic to make a stand. We are but cattle begging to be caged.
"p.s. If you really believe in freedom, vote Libertarian (sorry, shameless political plug)."
If voting ever changed anything it would be outlawed.
The US' current two party system, (or duopoly), easily prevents any third party or independent candidate from mounting any successful campaign to rival their power. Unless there is a massive change in the way political compaigns are funded and waged then there is no hope of there being a REAL election in the US. Of course, the polititians will decide if there is a change in the political or electoral system and that is as likely as them giving themselves a pay cut.
If you really believe in freedom, become an anarchist, refuse to vote, and tell everyone why it's a sham.
Well, if you have the money you too can buy your freedom!
You say you don't like a law that prevents you from taking advantage of employees? Well get a few lobbyists and give them wads of cash and you too can buy your own law! (please check the changes to IT professionals and overtime laws if you doubt me. Why are only IT pros exempt?)
Want to shut someone up who says what they think of you or your company? Hire a gaggle of lawyers and sue their pants off, if they are poor they won't even be able to afford the court costs!
What's that, you say you want to get a polititian in your back pocket? Just contribute to the polititian's campaign of your choice, that will get anything you want done real quick if you have a few mill to help him buy the election.
Hmm... What makes me think that the founding fathers never intended the US to become "for the money and by the money"? Is anyplace better? Probably not, even though I don't know this first hand. Anywhere that there is a government there is corruption, and where there is corruption there is a lack of freedom.
Oh, and a happy new year to all...
I never really thought of philosophy as just fatherly advice. Philosophy has improved my ability to critical thinking, to form meaningful arguments designed to draw a difinitive conclusion and not for argument's sake, to question things without blindly accepting, and to make sound judgements of for myself of what perceived right and wrong really are.
I'm sorry but these are not things that my father taught me. His failing, perhaps, but that is the intent of the philisophical studies and it's related fields of logic and ethics.
These are skills that I wish more people had. I also think that we are suffering because there is no value placed for these skills in our present society. These days, it seems that you're only valued if you can make society money, not make society better.
We, the people, give power to governments to govern us. So then it is true also that we, the people, give power to the corporations to govern us as well.
We give power to those who hold power in whatever form, be it the church, the goverment, the businessman, or the banker. It does not matter the form because they cannot hold power without our consent as a society.
America has become many little nations within a nation where companies now make their own little laws for their citizens(workers). Some of these even counter present laws of government and when they do usually government changes those laws. (overtime laws, for example, keep getting more loopholes to exclude more computer professionals).
So, we do know that our society is now geared to make all endevours profitable, yet we haven't evolved enough to know that we need to make society better in order to profit from our endevours.
When compared to other studies, technological advances rocket ahead of our gains in philosophy, ethics, sociology, political sciences, and other areas of human endevour. Why is this? Well, probably because technology brings money and power while the other studies are useless to businessmen. After all, when is the last time you heard of a rich philosopher?
Don't get me wrong, I work with technology and I love those little gadgets more than most people. But since I work with technology I get to see how these wonderfull devices are used.
We have all this potential now to communicate ideas, to share knowledge, to educate. We have devices that are supposed to free ourselves, to make the most of our time, to improve our lives. What does that technology really do? It improves bottom lines, it ties us to the desk, forces us to work longer hours even when at home, it takes us away from our friends and families, forces us to constantly focus on learning about technology instead of about each other and how to better society.
We humans are so good at creating things, at innovating. Yet we are so horrible at dealing with ourselves and learning about how to control the things we create. It is not technology that I fear, it is the human capacity to do harm with technology due to a lack of control. So we race ahead to invent new things but refuse to reinvent ourselves and our society. Is this the best course for us?
Of course they don't run OS/2, they run LINUX!!!
After all, the nuns' habits make them look like penguins so it should follow that they would choose an operating system with a penguin as a mascot.
I don't know for sure though because I keep trying to kick the habbit...
That's great news for geeks like me who actually like AD&D, gaming, and alternative O/S's...
Ok, made my point, not much of a market for them to do this for but it's darn cool that they did it anyways.
It's funny, come one, you laughed didn't you? If you didn't then you need a humor transplant!
Really, what if an atheist created an ISP and filtered out religious sites? When someone tried to type in the URL www.jimmyfarwell.com or something then they would get admonished with a page that said...
"Good thing we stopped you from resorting to the opiate of the masses! Why don't you just do your thinking for yourself and enjoy a game of Tekken Tag?"
I would go into what an agnostic ISP would do but it's not as funny...
I think that there would be fewer lawsuits if the attorneys, plaintifs, and defendents were forced to fight to the death in an arena. Then we would take care of foolish garbage like this and be entertained at the same time...
Seriously, who wouldn't tune in to see a lawyer skewered with a long sword or brained with a mace?
Even if neither of them invented the pop-up ad they should be sued for using the annoying things, sheesh! Mental Anguish, Pain and Suffering due to eye-strain, Loss of Income by wasting my time...
Well, wait, I shouldn't complain since I refuse to visit sites that use pop-ups, maybe it should just be a class action suit.
Let's start from the bottom and go to the top, shall we?
Unions vs guilds or professional organizations. Unions are too corruptable and do more harm to employers and employees alike, they hamper creativity and initiative, thus they are incomaptible with IT workers. A guild would benefit IT workers and the industry as a whole by standardizing the process by which one becomes an IT professional, we could rid ourselves of the debates over vendor certifications and train the new people in real life situations with solid theories as well. As a guild we could contribut to campaigns to the polititians and general public and gain clout with the government and the employers as well.
Now for the age old fight between management and the worker. Who let power get to their heads? Who has power, the worker or the manager? Why is a fair salary a bizarre demand when we train constantly, work long hours, and suffer a high rate of burnout? Why is having a respectfull and productive work environment a bad thing? So sorry we want time off and a say in the way things are run when we have a unique perspective that managers and executives are too high with their own power trips to see.
Being a true techie is a rarity. Sure you can train most people to do the basics but they will never be as productive or as good as the people who do this work out of love for the work itself. Many of the new people comming in are in it for the supposed money and don't care to learn as much as they can about the technology and theory behind it. That's what IT is, constant learning and relearning and those who are in it for the money will never put that kind of investment in IT like I or my peers have.
Of course, PHBs would rather have a brown noser who can blow smoke up their butts while not having a real clue. Who wants someone who can do the job right because they'll just want something unreasonable like respect. We all know that the executives won't stand for that, you can't show employees respect because then they'll start wanting their fair share of the pie and CEOs don't like to share.
Just wipe that brown off your nose, your boss isn't watching you in here...
This is really bad news for us technology professionals. All of the PHBs are going to be reading propaganda like this for a while to come now and all the hard work we have done as individualists to get employers to respect us through our rare skills will come back to haunt us. The tyrannical bosses will decide that all that turnover was just a fad and they really didn't have to treat IT pros with respect and fairness.
Back to the industrial age for us all as the people who left to get fair treatment lose thier backbones and crawl back to the PHBs to beg for thier old jobs at entry level pay.
We should have banned together when we could have rivaled the ITAA and other corporate interests by joining our resources for our benefit as a group of professionals. We should have formed a guild, (not a union) to pay off polititians to counter the industry and to make our opinions heard.
Is it too late? I don't know... I suppose it depnds on how long it takes most of us to realize how much this could damage us as a group of employees and how bad it can get if we refuse to do something...
How do you know? What is the final percentage of what Americans are taxed when one includes all of the very subtle ways in which the government earns it's living from it's people?
Did you count the gasoline taxes? Did you count how the gasoline taxes are passed on to the people when the deliverers of good have to pay them? Did you count the way the gasoline tax is passed on to the people when they go to the grocery store? What about the double tax on items already purchased when they are passed on to our children after we die? What about the taxes that companies pay for materials that they pass on to consumers?
Has someone been able to add up all of these taxes and come up with a final percentage that any average citizen of America can expect to give for his or her government? Why does the government have to collect taxes in such a questionable and secretive way? Why don't they just send it's citizenry a bill each month and do away with all of this subterfuge?
You tell me that we are taxed less than MOST European countries, which one's tax LESS than the USA? By how much? What are the exact numbers? Let me know when you can tell me or point me in a direction where I can get some exact answers backed up by some solid data and I'll be a little more at ease about working for the government when I had no intention to do so.
We Americans don't even realize how much we actually pay in taxes once you start considering the sales taxes, income taxes, gas taxes, tarrif taxes, corporate taxes that spill to the consummer, transport taxes that spill over as well, etc...etc...etc... ad nauseum...
What is one more tax? How much do we really pay for our government? Will we ever know?
When I buy groceries or get my phone bill it is ITEMIZED... Why the heck doesn't the government send me an itemized bill for all the taxes I pay? Why does the government have so many different taxes? What would happen when the people finally figured out how much government really costs?
Tax the internet sales, they'll do it if they want and we're powerless to stop them. Just one more hidden tax on the people that the people didn't ask for. Sounds like a story I heard once about a king and a tea party...
Actually I believe that it is Tempest and the shielding against the RF sniffing is called Tempest Shielding.
Yet, I will be the first to admit that I don't know that for sure since the last time I read up on that was back in 1992 when I ran my Anarchist BBS and worried more than I do now about such things...
Oh it just gets way too complicated because then you have to add mods like:
Score +1 Optimistic
Score -1 Naive
Score -3 AOL user level of naivety
Score -5 I believe the government really cares about my needs naivety
You see, it just gets too wierd when you try to bring balance to the force, (or farce(or schwartz))...