The view of "morons" is that the world is broken down into the simple black and white camps of the good guys (us, obviously) and the bad guys (anyone with whom we have an armed conflict.)
While the world and its politics are often indeed nuanced more often than not, in this case there isn't too much gray area when it comes to the whole ISIS/ISIL movement.
Sure, we can argue all day long as to their genesis, their ultimate goals, their strategies... but in the face of a tsunami of verifiable fact concerning ISIS' actions? Only a sophomore, equivocator, or (let's just put it out there) coward would describe their organization as anything less than the very face of evil.
Even in the all-too-pandering world of politics, there are still some statements that are not mere pandering, and some statements that are either incredibly stupid or beyond the pale. I suspect our Democrat friend in Minnesota recently discovered that the hard way.
Thing is, in the EU (as in, throughout the EU), the antipathy is a lot higher, and for good reason: As a general guideline, unemployment is usually a touch higher than in the US, and job growth is a touch lower (though in some countries this difference is rather dramatic), leading to a lot of antagonism.
Recently, it's grown primarily because of the actions and crimes committed by a number of these migrants, as well as the increased strain on the far-more-generous social welfare systems of these countries (which as a corollary, appears to be leading to even higher taxation).
If you think the Germans are vicious about it, you should take a gander at Nebelspalter (a Swiss parody magazine) and look up the opinions there on the subject...
I agree with the gist of your post and all, but there's a problem with it.
Political opinions? Yeah, whatever. However, scientific opinions with any controversy in it at all should always get equal airing of opposing viewpoints, so long as there is science backing up the opposition (and yes campers, in the AGW debate there is enough of that to be worth looking at and/or airing.)
One other thing, now that I think about it - it never hurts to lay out the opposing viewpoints in your writings, because you're going to have to face/refute them eventually, so why not in the book? As long as that opposition is tacked honestly (and not grossly misrepresented or minimized), it can only bolster your own viewpoint.
I suspect that hotels operate on a different set of tenant laws (depending on state), where eviction is likely a whole lot easier to accomplish. I recall that, for instance, Oregon tenant laws allow for faster evictions of (and less stringent laws concerning) 'temporary' tenants (e.g. those who live in a hotel).
Millenials might be the first generation in a long time to get the shaft by their departing parents.
Question: Would that include the record number of Millennials who still live at home with their parents? As someone from a slightly previous generation, I was kicked out of the nest at 18, full stop.
Err, no one told them to take on those loans. Local community colleges can do the same task for a whole lot less, and trade schools or apprenticeships are even better at keeping costs low (with a much faster ROI).
I can't really bring myself to feel pity for something that most people walked into willingly and with open eyes. After all, adulthood (and the responsibilities thereof) has to start at some point...
Interestingly enough, even military barracks often came with a CQ desk (and a voluntold person manning it) to keep order, and they reported to an NCO in charge of the building. Didn't slow down much - usually they only responded to something that got too violent or drunken. OTOH, the military imparts a way different mindset, and people get used to living in close quarters very quickly. It's not for everybody; on my part I tolerated it as a necessary evil, and moved into my own quarters (read: apartment) as quickly as my budget allowed.
You just learn to get along, even if you didn't like your bunkmates. If you didn't, then you were gently escorted out back by everyone else, where you and the object of your ire settled things in a quick, violent, but ultimately final* argument. Overall, you learn a valuable set of lessons from the experience of living together in tight quarters. You learn to tolerate personal quirks, you expand your own horizons a bit while you take in other cultures and habits, and you learned to live in a way that didn't outright offend everyone else around you. It's good training for married life, truth be told.;)
Now for civilians, I don't see it happening very well. The military molded your mind in ways that accommodated close living. Civilians (At least American ones) don't necessarily have the mindset or skills. Some cultures (usually Asian ones) are very well suited for it, but I don't see too many Western folks jumping at the chance unless circumstances (e.g. outrageous local rent costs) make it necessary.
* mind you, nobody died or anything - you just beat the hell out of each other, then drank yourselves silly while you patched things up and sorted the problem out.
I always hear this allegation that women are "less rational" than men, but notice that almost all preachers and religious leaders are men.
Unlike your implied stereotype, clergy are required to utilize a surprising amount of reason when it comes to matters of faith (both in persuasion and in tutelage). Failure to do so means failure to proselytize and/or retain a congregation. Cults obviously excluded of course, but otherwise your analogy is pretty false.
I have a moderate collection of really old books (ranging from 100-220 years old). Many of these books have either a formal Ex Libris stamp or sticker glued in it, or in most cases handwriting which says who the owner was (at least at one point in time).
Most of these original owners are obviously long dead, but their hand-written names or signatures live on, right there in the book. Sometimes they left addresses in there too. Best part is? 100+ years later, I don't need some archaic device to interpret what it says.
No matter what you try to do (aside from a QR code), odds are perfect that some of your books will be completely unreadable by whoever is holding it (no equipment, wrong software, "why the frig do I have to buy an RFID reader just to borrow a book - WTF is wrong with you!?", etc.)
Seriously - some problems do not require a tech/digital answer. Get those little "Ex Libris" stickers and call it good.
Yes. If this was true more and more, the world would probably be a better place. Fewer engineers who suck at math doing substandard work, etc.
...and fewer professionals who would otherwise have contributed greatly to mankind, but were taught by their parents (and by societal example) that you can still make a cozy living w/o having to really work for it.
That's a double-edged sword you're waving around there.;)
Why? This is part of the problem, it shouldnt matter.
So I can either spend years in college, work long long hours learning my craft, and here comes some guy who just shows up and makes almost the same income? Come to think of it, given hourly-wage overtime laws, he likely makes *more* for working the same hours per week.
Yeah, not seeing anyone getting angry about that. Put this way: There are two dynamics that got left out of this:
1) this is just one company that does it. Higher-paid employees know there's nowhere else they can go in order to get a raise anywhere near that magnitude. This is why the retention rate is what it is, but I'm pretty sure that the higher-paid pros aren't as cheerful about it as TFA alludes to.
2) as a salaried employee, if the hours get long I'd end up getting a far lower hourly rate than the janitor (because he gets overtime if he pops 40 hours a week).
#1: live within one's means... two examples stand out here:
- Net10 (and similar) gives you a 1GB plan for like $35/mo each line, and you can get two low-end smartphones for like $50 each... a total annual cost of $520 the first year, $420 the second. Much better than $19.6k (WTF - do you *really* need two brand-new iPhones and Verizon's most pricey plans for them? For that matter - do you really need two smartphones when one could just be a cheap feature phone?)
- TV/Internet/Phone... if you have cell phones, WTF do you need a landline for? Basic cable is like $20/mo. For Internet you can get a way cheaper DSL line for $25/mo that does 3-6Mbps (which is sufficient for basic stuff like work VPN, browsing, etc.
#2: it's all relative as per cost: $22k in mortgage per year equals $1834/mo. That's a mortgage on a $250-$300k house, depending on interest rate at time of closing. That can get you an incredibly nice house in Mississippi, or something the size of a parking spot in San Francisco.
Put it this way - I lived like a god while making only $40k/year in Northwest Arkansas... but $200k/year is the absolute minimum I would accept in the Bay area.
It's pretty simple: It's his money, he can do what he likes with it; there's no governmental coercion involved, so good on him for doing it.
Now I am curious to see what would happen if every business in his town did the same thing. I'm also curious to know if he gave a similar bump in salary to those employees who were already making over $75k.
Also, yeah he was flooded with resumes: janitors, receptionists, payroll administrators... I'm pretty certain that few of them would have been for positions that normally paid way more than $75k.
They could demand the severance money back (depending - some state laws would even prohibit that as many of them --such as Oregon-- require that employees laid off w/ less than 60-90 days notice receive severance pay based on years of service/seniority, and have other laws prohibiting any recovery of severance pay unless very specific conditions are met.)
In TFA's case, the phrase "to make myself reasonably available" is there, which means (to me), that "reasonably" would also mean they would pay a reasonable consultancy fee for the time, and no court would entertain any argument stating otherwise. They *could* claim that the severance was that fee, but you could just as easily turn around and just as equally claim that the severance was a retainer (which they would have a very hard time arguing against unless it specifically states otherwise in the contract.)
Okay, on a more serious (and charitable) note, maybe the guy doesn't speak/write English natively, and took a run through Google Translate? The word structure and cadence is suspiciously German in nature.
If this is indeed the case, I wish the dude would've included his original native-language text as well... some of us are actually literate in German (well, the Schweizerdeutsch dialect in my case, but standard and most other German dialects are easy enough to gut through and get the gist out of.)
Regardless of the cost, it's not right to make the prisoners pay it. They don't pay for the guards, food, building, locks, why should they pay for a prison-grade telephone?
Probably because the telephone is considered a privilege (excepting calls to them from their lawyers). Inmates have to earn the privilege, and that privilege is based on their behavior.
It's prison. They don't have to give you time on the telephone, at least outside of legal assistance from the lawyer who is supposed to represent you.
Slashdot Mirror
Or will they, in two years form now?
Why bother? If you want one bad enough, you can go buy one right now.
Oh, don't mind him - right or wrong, he's mad because he's only number 2
The view of "morons" is that the world is broken down into the simple black and white camps of the good guys (us, obviously) and the bad guys (anyone with whom we have an armed conflict.)
While the world and its politics are often indeed nuanced more often than not, in this case there isn't too much gray area when it comes to the whole ISIS/ISIL movement.
Sure, we can argue all day long as to their genesis, their ultimate goals, their strategies... but in the face of a tsunami of verifiable fact concerning ISIS' actions? Only a sophomore, equivocator, or (let's just put it out there) coward would describe their organization as anything less than the very face of evil.
Even in the all-too-pandering world of politics, there are still some statements that are not mere pandering, and some statements that are either incredibly stupid or beyond the pale. I suspect our Democrat friend in Minnesota recently discovered that the hard way.
Thing is, in the EU (as in, throughout the EU), the antipathy is a lot higher, and for good reason: As a general guideline, unemployment is usually a touch higher than in the US, and job growth is a touch lower (though in some countries this difference is rather dramatic), leading to a lot of antagonism.
Recently, it's grown primarily because of the actions and crimes committed by a number of these migrants, as well as the increased strain on the far-more-generous social welfare systems of these countries (which as a corollary, appears to be leading to even higher taxation).
If you think the Germans are vicious about it, you should take a gander at Nebelspalter (a Swiss parody magazine) and look up the opinions there on the subject...
Just a sec...
I agree with the gist of your post and all, but there's a problem with it.
Political opinions? Yeah, whatever. However, scientific opinions with any controversy in it at all should always get equal airing of opposing viewpoints, so long as there is science backing up the opposition (and yes campers, in the AGW debate there is enough of that to be worth looking at and/or airing.)
One other thing, now that I think about it - it never hurts to lay out the opposing viewpoints in your writings, because you're going to have to face/refute them eventually, so why not in the book? As long as that opposition is tacked honestly (and not grossly misrepresented or minimized), it can only bolster your own viewpoint.
I suspect that hotels operate on a different set of tenant laws (depending on state), where eviction is likely a whole lot easier to accomplish. I recall that, for instance, Oregon tenant laws allow for faster evictions of (and less stringent laws concerning) 'temporary' tenants (e.g. those who live in a hotel).
Millenials might be the first generation in a long time to get the shaft by their departing parents.
Question: Would that include the record number of Millennials who still live at home with their parents? As someone from a slightly previous generation, I was kicked out of the nest at 18, full stop.
Err, no one told them to take on those loans. Local community colleges can do the same task for a whole lot less, and trade schools or apprenticeships are even better at keeping costs low (with a much faster ROI).
I can't really bring myself to feel pity for something that most people walked into willingly and with open eyes. After all, adulthood (and the responsibilities thereof) has to start at some point...
Interestingly enough, even military barracks often came with a CQ desk (and a voluntold person manning it) to keep order, and they reported to an NCO in charge of the building. Didn't slow down much - usually they only responded to something that got too violent or drunken. OTOH, the military imparts a way different mindset, and people get used to living in close quarters very quickly. It's not for everybody; on my part I tolerated it as a necessary evil, and moved into my own quarters (read: apartment) as quickly as my budget allowed.
You just learn to get along, even if you didn't like your bunkmates. If you didn't, then you were gently escorted out back by everyone else, where you and the object of your ire settled things in a quick, violent, but ultimately final* argument. Overall, you learn a valuable set of lessons from the experience of living together in tight quarters. You learn to tolerate personal quirks, you expand your own horizons a bit while you take in other cultures and habits, and you learned to live in a way that didn't outright offend everyone else around you. It's good training for married life, truth be told. ;)
Now for civilians, I don't see it happening very well. The military molded your mind in ways that accommodated close living. Civilians (At least American ones) don't necessarily have the mindset or skills. Some cultures (usually Asian ones) are very well suited for it, but I don't see too many Western folks jumping at the chance unless circumstances (e.g. outrageous local rent costs) make it necessary.
* mind you, nobody died or anything - you just beat the hell out of each other, then drank yourselves silly while you patched things up and sorted the problem out.
Err, those are typically not hovercraft, but airboats, which work a wee bit differently.
(...though I can see the appeal of a hovercraft in mega-swampy areas like the Everglades...)
Maybe someone has a "million monkeys" research grant riding on this...?
I always hear this allegation that women are "less rational" than men, but notice that almost all preachers and religious leaders are men.
Unlike your implied stereotype, clergy are required to utilize a surprising amount of reason when it comes to matters of faith (both in persuasion and in tutelage). Failure to do so means failure to proselytize and/or retain a congregation. Cults obviously excluded of course, but otherwise your analogy is pretty false.
I should add one more reason:
I have a moderate collection of really old books (ranging from 100-220 years old). Many of these books have either a formal Ex Libris stamp or sticker glued in it, or in most cases handwriting which says who the owner was (at least at one point in time).
Most of these original owners are obviously long dead, but their hand-written names or signatures live on, right there in the book. Sometimes they left addresses in there too. Best part is? 100+ years later, I don't need some archaic device to interpret what it says.
No matter what you try to do (aside from a QR code), odds are perfect that some of your books will be completely unreadable by whoever is holding it (no equipment, wrong software, "why the frig do I have to buy an RFID reader just to borrow a book - WTF is wrong with you!?", etc.)
Seriously - some problems do not require a tech/digital answer. Get those little "Ex Libris" stickers and call it good.
Yes. If this was true more and more, the world would probably be a better place. Fewer engineers who suck at math doing substandard work, etc.
...and fewer professionals who would otherwise have contributed greatly to mankind, but were taught by their parents (and by societal example) that you can still make a cozy living w/o having to really work for it.
That's a double-edged sword you're waving around there. ;)
He didn't say he hated his job - he said he hated the BS that often comes with it. The distinction is the difference.
Why? This is part of the problem, it shouldnt matter.
So I can either spend years in college, work long long hours learning my craft, and here comes some guy who just shows up and makes almost the same income? Come to think of it, given hourly-wage overtime laws, he likely makes *more* for working the same hours per week.
Yeah, not seeing anyone getting angry about that. Put this way: There are two dynamics that got left out of this:
1) this is just one company that does it. Higher-paid employees know there's nowhere else they can go in order to get a raise anywhere near that magnitude. This is why the retention rate is what it is, but I'm pretty sure that the higher-paid pros aren't as cheerful about it as TFA alludes to.
2) as a salaried employee, if the hours get long I'd end up getting a far lower hourly rate than the janitor (because he gets overtime if he pops 40 hours a week).
#1: live within one's means... two examples stand out here:
- Net10 (and similar) gives you a 1GB plan for like $35/mo each line, and you can get two low-end smartphones for like $50 each... a total annual cost of $520 the first year, $420 the second. Much better than $19.6k (WTF - do you *really* need two brand-new iPhones and Verizon's most pricey plans for them? For that matter - do you really need two smartphones when one could just be a cheap feature phone?)
- TV/Internet/Phone... if you have cell phones, WTF do you need a landline for? Basic cable is like $20/mo. For Internet you can get a way cheaper DSL line for $25/mo that does 3-6Mbps (which is sufficient for basic stuff like work VPN, browsing, etc.
#2: it's all relative as per cost:
$22k in mortgage per year equals $1834/mo. That's a mortgage on a $250-$300k house, depending on interest rate at time of closing. That can get you an incredibly nice house in Mississippi, or something the size of a parking spot in San Francisco.
Put it this way - I lived like a god while making only $40k/year in Northwest Arkansas... but $200k/year is the absolute minimum I would accept in the Bay area.
It's pretty simple: It's his money, he can do what he likes with it; there's no governmental coercion involved, so good on him for doing it.
Now I am curious to see what would happen if every business in his town did the same thing. I'm also curious to know if he gave a similar bump in salary to those employees who were already making over $75k.
Also, yeah he was flooded with resumes: janitors, receptionists, payroll administrators... I'm pretty certain that few of them would have been for positions that normally paid way more than $75k.
Contracts are frequently thrown out entirely when they contain unconscionable provisions.
Entirely? Rarely. Most contracts contain a severability clause, which means the bad part can be removed without invalidating the rest of it.
They could demand the severance money back (depending - some state laws would even prohibit that as many of them --such as Oregon-- require that employees laid off w/ less than 60-90 days notice receive severance pay based on years of service/seniority, and have other laws prohibiting any recovery of severance pay unless very specific conditions are met.)
In TFA's case, the phrase "to make myself reasonably available" is there, which means (to me), that "reasonably" would also mean they would pay a reasonable consultancy fee for the time, and no court would entertain any argument stating otherwise. They *could* claim that the severance was that fee, but you could just as easily turn around and just as equally claim that the severance was a retainer (which they would have a very hard time arguing against unless it specifically states otherwise in the contract.)
The notion that I should be available to work for free, after leaving, for 2 years? Insane.
I think at that point, I'd totally destroy anything I touched, you know, 'accidentally'...
"oops? Well, it's been awhile since I left, and to be honest, you get what you pay for. See ya."
Okay, on a more serious (and charitable) note, maybe the guy doesn't speak/write English natively, and took a run through Google Translate? The word structure and cadence is suspiciously German in nature.
If this is indeed the case, I wish the dude would've included his original native-language text as well... some of us are actually literate in German (well, the Schweizerdeutsch dialect in my case, but standard and most other German dialects are easy enough to gut through and get the gist out of.)
How was this word salad modded up?
Because Agile
( /me ducks and runs like hell )
Regardless of the cost, it's not right to make the prisoners pay it. They don't pay for the guards, food, building, locks, why should they pay for a prison-grade telephone?
Probably because the telephone is considered a privilege (excepting calls to them from their lawyers). Inmates have to earn the privilege, and that privilege is based on their behavior.
It's prison. They don't have to give you time on the telephone, at least outside of legal assistance from the lawyer who is supposed to represent you.