You know, normally I defend Bill Gates and MS, just because I feel *someone* should stand up against all the reflexive MS-bashing around here. But on this, I've got to call a spade a spade (and a scumbag ploy a scumbag ploy) and point out that this whole "it's for education" stageshow is nothing more than a cynical attempt on MS's part to get more H1-B visas (i.e. slavery licenses) so they can import cheap high-skilled labor rather than raise their salaries to hire U.S. workers. MS is basically pitching the idea of the government letting them buy a presumably unlimited number of H1-B visas (and even permanent green cards now too), and trying to cloak it with a bunch of "this will help the kids" education horseshit.
The whole H1-B visa program needs to be severely curtailed, NOT expanded. The idea of H1-B visas started out as a reasonable sounding idea. When we have critical shortages, we can give special visa exemptions for foreign workers. But, in practice in recent years, it's become nothing more than a way for big corps to skirt the free labor market and artificially suppress wages for skilled labor. You advertise a job at a ridiculously low wage, or with ridiculous requirements, and when no American worker responds or qualifies (because American programmers and engineers won't work for $30,000 a year and don't have 20+ years Java development experience), you run crying to Congress and the Labor Dept. that you need more H1-B visas to fill the "critical shortages of qualified workers." So then you can import foreigners willing to work for cheap, rather than raise wages to get American workers (who ARE out there, and ARE willing to work--just not for peanuts). And, to top it all off, you can cleverly skirt the "prevailing wage" provisions of the H1-B program by artificially keeping wages low, or defining the job so narrowly that there is no field to compare it to. Corporations for the win!
And, sadly, the whole scam has been backed (and consistently expanded) by both Republican and Democrats in this country--not surprisingly, since they're both just corporate subsidiaries at this point. And while people have been warning about abuses in the program for years, their complaints are consistently lost in the rain of cash the big corps are dumping on Washington before every election.
In short, fuck you Microsoft. You're not fooling me (and hopefully not anyone else).
Portuguese citizens need to be reminded that they're still under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, and WILL be extradited to the U.S. for breaking any IP laws!
Does this mean you're not about to grab me, throw me handcuffed onto a plane, and send me to the U.S. to rot in a prison for pissing off the RIAA/MPAA?
So what you're saying is: universities should just sell students a piece of paper, without forcing them to do any of that difficult "learning" business?
No, I'm saying that the gen ed requirements for mathematics are far in excess of the requirements in other fields. When otherwise good students in unrelated fields are being forced to take a class that many fail 3-4 times before passing, your requirements need adjusting. Imagine being a CS major and walking into a required business course where as much as 75% of the class (without a VERY STRONG knack for business) was going to fail. Now imagine kissing your 4.0 CS GPA goodbye as a consequence--because you're not good at something which has, at best, a very tangential relationship to your major.
Yes, because I'm sure nurses are regularly (or, for that matter, EVER) doing manual dosage calculations by hand, using an algebraic ratio. No doubt this comes in handy when they're mixing the medication themselves with a mortar and pedestal.
I don't want a nurse treating me who doesn't know how to think.
Being good at alegbra != "being able to think."
I could as easily say "I don't want a programmer writing code for me who can't compose a compelling essay" or "I don't want a guy working on my computer who doesn't know about the Martin Luther and the Reformation."
You can be a genius in one area and a complete retard in others. Everyone has his or her skills, and shortcomings.
Taking an algebra class for many students is not about the algebra, it's about learning to think.
Actually, for the vast majority, it's about passing a class...to jump through a hoop...to get a piece of paper. And it's unfair to make people jump through said hoop who will likely never use it again in their lives (or even remember it, in the unlikely even that they need to). Many a 4.0 GPA Nursing major has had his/her GPA destroyed by a College Algebra class that they had to repeat multiple times--and for what?
If you need a fucking algebraic formula to figure out how much paint you need to paint your house, you're probably too stupid to use either algebra or paint.
Apparently, this was the source of the email list:
nearly 10,000 people who electronically signed a 2011 online petition supporting a gay artist from Nicaragua, who was then facing deportation.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume that those opposing the deportation of a gay artist would also be supporters of gay rights in general (though not necessarily gay themselves).
Well, it Iran's case. It probably didn't help that we overthrew their democratically elected government, stole their oil for decades with a puppet regime, and now are sending in computer malware to blow up their centrifuges and assassinating their nuclear scientists.
So, not sure why your mainstream press isn't covering this story?
Uh, I saw this on both the PBS Newshour and CNN yesterday. Not sure how much more "mainstream" you can get (unless you expect People magazine to do a story too). Now, if by "not covering" you mean "aren't running around like Chicken Little alarmists screaming 'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'" then that's true, yes. But in a world with much more present and pressing issues like war, hunger, unemployment, recession, etc. you can't very well expect every newspaper to lead with a "Average Global Temps Expected to Rise By 1-2 Degrees Celsius Over the Next 50-100 years" headline.
Yes, it's noteworthy. Yes, we certainly need to address it. But, no, it's not the kind of thing that has people immediately scared or in present danger, nor the kind of thing that has the press running out with cameras to get the dramatic shot. It's more the long-term story that sort of simmers in the background.
function MarketingFunction(originalText) { var revisedText = new String(originalText + ", which will help build synergy and increase marketshare."); return revisedText; }
Yeah, again, we just have to convince a significant portion of the population to starve to death without putting up any kind of fight. Their suicide will be a noble act. Again, I propose we give this honor first to those brave souls who warn us every day about about how evil modern farming is. They deserve that honor!
Slashdot Mirror
You know, normally I defend Bill Gates and MS, just because I feel *someone* should stand up against all the reflexive MS-bashing around here. But on this, I've got to call a spade a spade (and a scumbag ploy a scumbag ploy) and point out that this whole "it's for education" stageshow is nothing more than a cynical attempt on MS's part to get more H1-B visas (i.e. slavery licenses) so they can import cheap high-skilled labor rather than raise their salaries to hire U.S. workers. MS is basically pitching the idea of the government letting them buy a presumably unlimited number of H1-B visas (and even permanent green cards now too), and trying to cloak it with a bunch of "this will help the kids" education horseshit.
The whole H1-B visa program needs to be severely curtailed, NOT expanded. The idea of H1-B visas started out as a reasonable sounding idea. When we have critical shortages, we can give special visa exemptions for foreign workers. But, in practice in recent years, it's become nothing more than a way for big corps to skirt the free labor market and artificially suppress wages for skilled labor. You advertise a job at a ridiculously low wage, or with ridiculous requirements, and when no American worker responds or qualifies (because American programmers and engineers won't work for $30,000 a year and don't have 20+ years Java development experience), you run crying to Congress and the Labor Dept. that you need more H1-B visas to fill the "critical shortages of qualified workers." So then you can import foreigners willing to work for cheap, rather than raise wages to get American workers (who ARE out there, and ARE willing to work--just not for peanuts). And, to top it all off, you can cleverly skirt the "prevailing wage" provisions of the H1-B program by artificially keeping wages low, or defining the job so narrowly that there is no field to compare it to. Corporations for the win!
And, sadly, the whole scam has been backed (and consistently expanded) by both Republican and Democrats in this country--not surprisingly, since they're both just corporate subsidiaries at this point. And while people have been warning about abuses in the program for years, their complaints are consistently lost in the rain of cash the big corps are dumping on Washington before every election.
In short, fuck you Microsoft. You're not fooling me (and hopefully not anyone else).
The law should be equal to everyone.
Yeah, because the EU doesn't single out MS at all. I'm sure they also make Apple offer a browser other than Safari in OSX and iOS too.
Oh wait...
Portuguese citizens need to be reminded that they're still under the jurisdiction of U.S. law, and WILL be extradited to the U.S. for breaking any IP laws!
Does this mean you're not about to grab me, throw me handcuffed onto a plane, and send me to the U.S. to rot in a prison for pissing off the RIAA/MPAA?
What, no?
So what you're saying is: universities should just sell students a piece of paper, without forcing them to do any of that difficult "learning" business?
No, I'm saying that the gen ed requirements for mathematics are far in excess of the requirements in other fields. When otherwise good students in unrelated fields are being forced to take a class that many fail 3-4 times before passing, your requirements need adjusting. Imagine being a CS major and walking into a required business course where as much as 75% of the class (without a VERY STRONG knack for business) was going to fail. Now imagine kissing your 4.0 CS GPA goodbye as a consequence--because you're not good at something which has, at best, a very tangential relationship to your major.
Yes, because I'm sure nurses are regularly (or, for that matter, EVER) doing manual dosage calculations by hand, using an algebraic ratio. No doubt this comes in handy when they're mixing the medication themselves with a mortar and pedestal.
I don't want a nurse treating me who doesn't know how to think.
Being good at alegbra != "being able to think."
I could as easily say "I don't want a programmer writing code for me who can't compose a compelling essay" or "I don't want a guy working on my computer who doesn't know about the Martin Luther and the Reformation."
You can be a genius in one area and a complete retard in others. Everyone has his or her skills, and shortcomings.
Always skip every other iteration.
Just checking. And hoping no one scams it away in some corp. coup or something.
Taking an algebra class for many students is not about the algebra, it's about learning to think.
Actually, for the vast majority, it's about passing a class...to jump through a hoop...to get a piece of paper. And it's unfair to make people jump through said hoop who will likely never use it again in their lives (or even remember it, in the unlikely even that they need to). Many a 4.0 GPA Nursing major has had his/her GPA destroyed by a College Algebra class that they had to repeat multiple times--and for what?
If you need a fucking algebraic formula to figure out how much paint you need to paint your house, you're probably too stupid to use either algebra or paint.
If you have a moral objection to real leather, buy fake.
If you don't have any moral objection, buy real.
Or, if you don't like leather, buy neither.
Any one of these three options will be a LOT cheaper than anything grown in a lab. And I seriously doubt this will ever be able to scale.
Yeah, but it's GREEN, man!
But there is no way I've got enough charge to get there.
Apparently, this was the source of the email list:
nearly 10,000 people who electronically signed a 2011 online petition supporting a gay artist from Nicaragua, who was then facing deportation.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to assume that those opposing the deportation of a gay artist would also be supporters of gay rights in general (though not necessarily gay themselves).
Well, it Iran's case. It probably didn't help that we overthrew their democratically elected government, stole their oil for decades with a puppet regime, and now are sending in computer malware to blow up their centrifuges and assassinating their nuclear scientists.
Such actions do tend to cause some animosity.
They're tasking the janitorial staff with the bugfix.
Can't believe they forgot the "paradigm shift" square.
So, not sure why your mainstream press isn't covering this story?
Uh, I saw this on both the PBS Newshour and CNN yesterday. Not sure how much more "mainstream" you can get (unless you expect People magazine to do a story too). Now, if by "not covering" you mean "aren't running around like Chicken Little alarmists screaming 'WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!'" then that's true, yes. But in a world with much more present and pressing issues like war, hunger, unemployment, recession, etc. you can't very well expect every newspaper to lead with a "Average Global Temps Expected to Rise By 1-2 Degrees Celsius Over the Next 50-100 years" headline.
Yes, it's noteworthy. Yes, we certainly need to address it. But, no, it's not the kind of thing that has people immediately scared or in present danger, nor the kind of thing that has the press running out with cameras to get the dramatic shot. It's more the long-term story that sort of simmers in the background.
function MarketingFunction(originalText)
{
var revisedText = new String(originalText + ", which will help build synergy and increase marketshare.");
return revisedText;
}
Some malware these days is militarily and politically motivated too.
ADD is NOT a mental disorder, it's a serious medica
Oh look, a bird!
I wonder what all manner of interesting thing will walk, and walk, and walk in this installment?
Sorry bro, small organic farms that use intensive growing methods produce equal or greater yields that GM crops without fertilizers or pesticides.
That's funny, bro, I read an interesting recent article that would seem to disagree.
Yeah, again, we just have to convince a significant portion of the population to starve to death without putting up any kind of fight. Their suicide will be a noble act. Again, I propose we give this honor first to those brave souls who warn us every day about about how evil modern farming is. They deserve that honor!