Yup, I was right, you've never worked in IT before.
That's probably a good thing. Most IT personnel suck donkey dicks when it comes to management skills, much less running an actual business.
I was lured to several reputable and profitable businesses with similar lines, and took substandard salaries in the hopes of earning a piece of the pie. A couple months later, I'm on the street staring at the other employees scratching their heads.
That's called a "learning experience". As in, you acted stupidly and got slapped around for it. So instead of whining on slashdot about how you were wronged, why don't you admit that you didn't do your homework properly, got reamed - and that you deserved it, and learned enough that you probably won't be that much of an idiot a second time around. Probably.
Although I'm not so sure about that, since it seems that you're intent on blaming your own failings on everyone else but you - even a slashdot poster you know nothing about.
but only for a fixed wage that recognizes my worth.
The only worth you have is what other people are willing to pay for your work. You don't get to determine that figure; only the people who offer you jobs do. If you can't get a job for more than $5 an hour, then that's all that you're worth no matter what delusion you happen to be laboring under.
You're fighting a losing battle here. Despite the pseudo-libertarian blather spouted by many of the posters here on slashdot, the vast majority of them are just like any other American in that they're all talk and no action. When it comes to hard things like, say, taking a risk, or worse - facing reality - they go running like sheep to the welcoming arms of Daddy Government.
They don't want libertarianism. They don't want anything remotely close to a free market. What they want is to live in some socialist shit-hole where there's never any real risk OR reward - and not just for themselves, but also for people like you who've proven that they've got balls. The sheep can't tolerate the idea that some of their number might actually grow a spine and rise above them; it reminds of them or their own cowardice.
Cash flow needs are the problem of the employee, not the employer. That's why you, the employee, need to put money into savings after every contractual bonus period (or profit-sharing, which is what this actually sounds like). You use your SAVINGS from the PREVIOUS BONUS to pay your bills.
Of course, only people who're actually capable of saving money are going to be able to handle this arrangement. The average person who has tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt because they can't live within their means right now isn't going to be able to cut it. And good riddance, because what employer wants that sort of employee working for them anyway? If said employee is that irresponsible with their personal life, they're even more likely to be irresponsible on the job.
Anyone who has both sons and daughters knows they are different, no matter how hard you try to androgenize them.
The problem isn't that there are differences between men and women, the problem is that a vocal minority of assholes in American society insist that the differences are always in accordance with their own pet laundry list, and anyone who doesn't conform to that list is a freak. They whine, bitch and moan about the 'differences' between the sexes, but what they really mean is that anyone who doesn't act in what they determine is a 'masculine' or 'feminine' manner should be ostracized and labeled an 'aberration' until they fall back into the party line. If their little boy decides to be a ballet dancer or their girl an auto mechanic, they shit their shorts and have a hissy fit, showing their true colors for all to see.
It's just another form of mysogynism, dressed up as 'biological fact' - facts which have never, ever been proven of course, but they just *know* that it'll happen someday! Give it time and eventually they'll prove that no woman should be an programmer, or rocket scientist, or whatever it is they think is the sole purview of men with small penises and big egos.
Any country which would limit the speech of those deemed racist has no free speech at all, no matter how it pretends otherwise. Freedom of speech is meant to protect those you despise as well as you - not *just* you and your buddies.
If you don't get this very simple concept, you don't have the first clue what the word 'freedom' actually means.
And let's not forget that Australia leads the First World in anti-freedom laws. Hell, this is a place where even the act of *taping a television show* will land you in jail. What a shining beacon of democracy and individual rights!
It's good to know that at least one other supposedly representative government out there is fucking up worse than we are. Then I can honestly say "well, at least things aren't as bad here as they are in Australia...yet."
No, he's right. Government is inherently evil, a fact which people are always willing to forget when government is acting according to their personal whim of the day. What he left out is that sometimes *lack* of government on a particular issue is *more* evil.
When it comes to government it's never about choosing a good thing over a bad thing. It's about choosing between two bad things. Often the worse choice (like in this case) is government interference.
...that some of the most vicious criticism of BG comes from guys who can't stand the thought that the best pilot in the fleet is a woman. The same guys whose maturity arrested somewhere around the age of 14, the sort who mutter "I could kick that bitch's ass in TIE Fighter any day of the week!" It's hard to a mysogynistic geek dipshit, ruler of Half-Life or Quake deathmatches, when the most kick-ass warrior of the best SF show around - the person who's supposed to be your role model - is a blonde chick who doesn't wear spandex or go down on her knees whenever something vaguely male passes her in the hall. Especially when said blonde chick has a penchant for pounding guys who piss her off....
I rather doubt anyone with real power thinks of Greenpeace or PETA as "political rivals". The very idea is laughable considering how very little real power either organization wields.
I wouldn't call them terrorists either. Just plain ol' criminals, no different than any other fucking asshole who commits theft, or arson, or destruction of property. And I have no problem with prosecuting them as such.
Battlestar Galactica I'd take, but Lost? As in "we, the writers, are completely fucking lost when it comes to anything remotely resembling a plot"? There are three reasons I record that show and watch it whenever I have the urge (less and less these days): the first is Evangeline Lilly. The other two are also female. Plot is not one of them.
There's more to it than that. If you've been involved with the industry then you know that personal politics, whims, and downright mean-spiritedness have a great deal to do with cancellations and refusals to sell as well. This is an industry where profit often *isn't* the bottom line and where individuals will often torpedo working projects to push a personal agenda, or simply to stick it to someone they don't like.
For example, it's a rather well-known (in the industry) fact that "Dark Angel" wasn't cancelled due to ratings but because a certain powerful executive (a woman who still works in the business) harbored a very public hatred of Jessica Alba. Public in the sense of that it made the rounds in business as a recurring bit of gossip, not public in the sense that you, Joe Smith, know about it. She made it one of her primary goals to sink that show any way she could. What's mildly amusing about this is that she's acquired a reputation for doing this sort of thing, and at least a half-dozen cancellations are attributed to her vindictiveness because the shows featured a woman she didn't like. Not that she doesn't like Ms. Alba because of some unpleasant personal interaction (they've never met, to my knowledge), but because Ms. Alba is extraordinarily gorgeous - and she despises gorgeous women. Especially strong-willed gorgeous women, and most of all strong-willed gorgeous women that fellow male executives drool over and talk about to each other within the range of this vipers hearing.
No names, but her pecadillos have reached the point where a bit of google searching can turn up the very same info I've just related, along with some of the shows that've been on her hit list (apart from "Dark Angel").
This is not an unusual thing. Many shows do just fine ratings-wise, yet get cancelled despite the fact that they make money. The reasons are usually rooted in the malicious behavior of executives more enamored of power than of money. Others are appalling (e.g., "Enterprise") but are kept because someone on the show (in this case, Berman) knows where some very, very embarrassing bodies are buried.
When it comes to television, don't attribute to stupidity what can instead be ascribed to petty evil. Nine times of out ten the reasons are firmly rooted in petty evil.
Wales was a pornographer; this fact isn't up for dispute. The problem here is that Wales apparently thinks he's above having this piece of his past published in his wiki entry, and would rather not have folks know that he used to be a common tits-'n-ass salesman.
He didn't 'correct' anything; there were no mistakes in the entry. What he did was remove the stuff he didn't want people to know about.
The only people who honestly think that the U.S. has become a 'totalitarian' state are loons desperately in need of some serious meds. If they can't tell the difference between the U.S. and a dictatorship then they don't have a credible hold on reality - not the sort of person you pay any serious attention to.
Fascism doesn't have to sprout from the extreme right of the political spectrum - that's nothing more than pseudo-liberal bullshit. Fascism only needs extremism, which is equally prevalent on both the right AND the left. I can imagine a fascist state based on extreme environmentalism just as easily as I can imagine a fascist state stemming from extreme fundamentalist religious roots.
Oh come on, you aren't that stupid. The information has only to be used ONCE, regardless of whether the individual using this information is apprehended, tried or convicted. From then on the list represents fear and intimidation you can use to limit your opponent's freedom.
It's your problem is you're chicken-shit, not the owner of the list. The fact that you're pissing your pants over it doesn't trump his freedom of speech.
As for my property, I can always get out my shotgun (or perhaps a cattle prod) and convince you through brute force that it's time to leave. In my state that's perfectly legal. In fact, I have a great deal of leeway in deciding what to do with a recalitrant trespasser. And if the trespasser becomes violent, then all bets are off.
In this case sticking so closely to the book wasn't such a good thing. Far too much christianity for a non-christian to swallow, especially with respect to Aslan's actions. I'd rather they had dumped the obvious parallels and put it entirely in the realm of fantasy, with no connection to religion in this world whatsoever. Instead I was treated to unusually poor special effects, wooden acting by most of the kids, and two hours of religious propaganda cloaked as a children's tale. The whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth.
The solution, at least in my case, is to put the conversation in the driving space
I think a better solution would be to shut the fuck up and drive. If you just have to talk to someone, do the rest of us a favor and pull over for the length of the call. If that's a problem you shouldn't be driving a car in the first place; stick to something that won't get other people killed, like public transport.
No, the real problem is that EVERYONE becomes a bad driver when they aren't concentrating on driving. That includes you too, kid; you aren't anything special, and if you think you are you definitely don't belong behind the wheel of a car.
but I know when I've almost been in one, and I can track the frequency of these occurences over the years as grouped by not talking on the phone, holding the phone, or using hands free.
If you have enough data to chart this sort of thing with any accuracy, then I suggest that you think about giving up driving altogether. It's rather apparent that you're a hazard on the road no matter what you are or aren't doing.
I can't wait for the day when manual driving is no longer allowed. I'll be able to sit back in my car, reading a good book while enjoying my coffee, chuckling over the idea of all those kids going nuts over the fact that they're no longer able to drive like fucking maniacs whenever they feel like it, putting everyone else's lives in danger because they're convinced they're actually better at the task than everyone else.
Yep, the idea of all those frustrated little college boys going apeshit over 'the good o' days' will put a big, big smile on my face....
Slashdot Mirror
Yup, I was right, you've never worked in IT before.
That's probably a good thing. Most IT personnel suck donkey dicks when it comes to management skills, much less running an actual business.
I was lured to several reputable and profitable businesses with similar lines, and took substandard salaries in the hopes of earning a piece of the pie. A couple months later, I'm on the street staring at the other employees scratching their heads.
That's called a "learning experience". As in, you acted stupidly and got slapped around for it. So instead of whining on slashdot about how you were wronged, why don't you admit that you didn't do your homework properly, got reamed - and that you deserved it, and learned enough that you probably won't be that much of an idiot a second time around. Probably.
Although I'm not so sure about that, since it seems that you're intent on blaming your own failings on everyone else but you - even a slashdot poster you know nothing about.
Max
but only for a fixed wage that recognizes my worth.
The only worth you have is what other people are willing to pay for your work. You don't get to determine that figure; only the people who offer you jobs do. If you can't get a job for more than $5 an hour, then that's all that you're worth no matter what delusion you happen to be laboring under.
Max
You're fighting a losing battle here. Despite the pseudo-libertarian blather spouted by many of the posters here on slashdot, the vast majority of them are just like any other American in that they're all talk and no action. When it comes to hard things like, say, taking a risk, or worse - facing reality - they go running like sheep to the welcoming arms of Daddy Government.
They don't want libertarianism. They don't want anything remotely close to a free market. What they want is to live in some socialist shit-hole where there's never any real risk OR reward - and not just for themselves, but also for people like you who've proven that they've got balls. The sheep can't tolerate the idea that some of their number might actually grow a spine and rise above them; it reminds of them or their own cowardice.
Max
Cash flow needs are the problem of the employee, not the employer. That's why you, the employee, need to put money into savings after every contractual bonus period (or profit-sharing, which is what this actually sounds like). You use your SAVINGS from the PREVIOUS BONUS to pay your bills.
Of course, only people who're actually capable of saving money are going to be able to handle this arrangement. The average person who has tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt because they can't live within their means right now isn't going to be able to cut it. And good riddance, because what employer wants that sort of employee working for them anyway? If said employee is that irresponsible with their personal life, they're even more likely to be irresponsible on the job.
Max
Anyone who has both sons and daughters knows they are different, no matter how hard you try to androgenize them.
The problem isn't that there are differences between men and women, the problem is that a vocal minority of assholes in American society insist that the differences are always in accordance with their own pet laundry list, and anyone who doesn't conform to that list is a freak. They whine, bitch and moan about the 'differences' between the sexes, but what they really mean is that anyone who doesn't act in what they determine is a 'masculine' or 'feminine' manner should be ostracized and labeled an 'aberration' until they fall back into the party line. If their little boy decides to be a ballet dancer or their girl an auto mechanic, they shit their shorts and have a hissy fit, showing their true colors for all to see.
It's just another form of mysogynism, dressed up as 'biological fact' - facts which have never, ever been proven of course, but they just *know* that it'll happen someday! Give it time and eventually they'll prove that no woman should be an programmer, or rocket scientist, or whatever it is they think is the sole purview of men with small penises and big egos.
Max
Any country which would limit the speech of those deemed racist has no free speech at all, no matter how it pretends otherwise. Freedom of speech is meant to protect those you despise as well as you - not *just* you and your buddies.
If you don't get this very simple concept, you don't have the first clue what the word 'freedom' actually means.
Max
And let's not forget that Australia leads the First World in anti-freedom laws. Hell, this is a place where even the act of *taping a television show* will land you in jail. What a shining beacon of democracy and individual rights!
It's good to know that at least one other supposedly representative government out there is fucking up worse than we are. Then I can honestly say "well, at least things aren't as bad here as they are in Australia...yet."
Max
No, he's right. Government is inherently evil, a fact which people are always willing to forget when government is acting according to their personal whim of the day. What he left out is that sometimes *lack* of government on a particular issue is *more* evil.
When it comes to government it's never about choosing a good thing over a bad thing. It's about choosing between two bad things. Often the worse choice (like in this case) is government interference.
Max
...that some of the most vicious criticism of BG comes from guys who can't stand the thought that the best pilot in the fleet is a woman. The same guys whose maturity arrested somewhere around the age of 14, the sort who mutter "I could kick that bitch's ass in TIE Fighter any day of the week!" It's hard to a mysogynistic geek dipshit, ruler of Half-Life or Quake deathmatches, when the most kick-ass warrior of the best SF show around - the person who's supposed to be your role model - is a blonde chick who doesn't wear spandex or go down on her knees whenever something vaguely male passes her in the hall. Especially when said blonde chick has a penchant for pounding guys who piss her off....
Max
The guy is political active for a convicted racist party
A "convicted racist party". I think that tells us just about everything we need to know about 'free speech' in Flanders.
Max
I rather doubt anyone with real power thinks of Greenpeace or PETA as "political rivals". The very idea is laughable considering how very little real power either organization wields.
Max
I wouldn't call them terrorists either. Just plain ol' criminals, no different than any other fucking asshole who commits theft, or arson, or destruction of property. And I have no problem with prosecuting them as such.
Max
Battlestar Galactica I'd take, but Lost? As in "we, the writers, are completely fucking lost when it comes to anything remotely resembling a plot"? There are three reasons I record that show and watch it whenever I have the urge (less and less these days): the first is Evangeline Lilly. The other two are also female. Plot is not one of them.
Max
There's more to it than that. If you've been involved with the industry then you know that personal politics, whims, and downright mean-spiritedness have a great deal to do with cancellations and refusals to sell as well. This is an industry where profit often *isn't* the bottom line and where individuals will often torpedo working projects to push a personal agenda, or simply to stick it to someone they don't like.
For example, it's a rather well-known (in the industry) fact that "Dark Angel" wasn't cancelled due to ratings but because a certain powerful executive (a woman who still works in the business) harbored a very public hatred of Jessica Alba. Public in the sense of that it made the rounds in business as a recurring bit of gossip, not public in the sense that you, Joe Smith, know about it. She made it one of her primary goals to sink that show any way she could. What's mildly amusing about this is that she's acquired a reputation for doing this sort of thing, and at least a half-dozen cancellations are attributed to her vindictiveness because the shows featured a woman she didn't like. Not that she doesn't like Ms. Alba because of some unpleasant personal interaction (they've never met, to my knowledge), but because Ms. Alba is extraordinarily gorgeous - and she despises gorgeous women. Especially strong-willed gorgeous women, and most of all strong-willed gorgeous women that fellow male executives drool over and talk about to each other within the range of this vipers hearing.
No names, but her pecadillos have reached the point where a bit of google searching can turn up the very same info I've just related, along with some of the shows that've been on her hit list (apart from "Dark Angel").
This is not an unusual thing. Many shows do just fine ratings-wise, yet get cancelled despite the fact that they make money. The reasons are usually rooted in the malicious behavior of executives more enamored of power than of money. Others are appalling (e.g., "Enterprise") but are kept because someone on the show (in this case, Berman) knows where some very, very embarrassing bodies are buried.
When it comes to television, don't attribute to stupidity what can instead be ascribed to petty evil. Nine times of out ten the reasons are firmly rooted in petty evil.
Max
Wales was a pornographer; this fact isn't up for dispute. The problem here is that Wales apparently thinks he's above having this piece of his past published in his wiki entry, and would rather not have folks know that he used to be a common tits-'n-ass salesman.
He didn't 'correct' anything; there were no mistakes in the entry. What he did was remove the stuff he didn't want people to know about.
Max
The only people who honestly think that the U.S. has become a 'totalitarian' state are loons desperately in need of some serious meds. If they can't tell the difference between the U.S. and a dictatorship then they don't have a credible hold on reality - not the sort of person you pay any serious attention to.
Max
yet another set of brown people that Americans generally confuse with Arabs (and consequently irrationally hate).
And yet another socialist scumbag painting every American with his bigoted brush.
Max
Fascism doesn't have to sprout from the extreme right of the political spectrum - that's nothing more than pseudo-liberal bullshit. Fascism only needs extremism, which is equally prevalent on both the right AND the left. I can imagine a fascist state based on extreme environmentalism just as easily as I can imagine a fascist state stemming from extreme fundamentalist religious roots.
Max
Oh come on, you aren't that stupid. The information has only to be used ONCE, regardless of whether the individual using this information is apprehended, tried or convicted. From then on the list represents fear and intimidation you can use to limit your opponent's freedom.
It's your problem is you're chicken-shit, not the owner of the list. The fact that you're pissing your pants over it doesn't trump his freedom of speech.
As for my property, I can always get out my shotgun (or perhaps a cattle prod) and convince you through brute force that it's time to leave. In my state that's perfectly legal. In fact, I have a great deal of leeway in deciding what to do with a recalitrant trespasser. And if the trespasser becomes violent, then all bets are off.
Max
And your sig is stupid.
The fact that it bothers you enough to comment on it means that it's fulfilled its intended purposed. Guess you'll just have to suck it up, eh?
Max
In this case sticking so closely to the book wasn't such a good thing. Far too much christianity for a non-christian to swallow, especially with respect to Aslan's actions. I'd rather they had dumped the obvious parallels and put it entirely in the realm of fantasy, with no connection to religion in this world whatsoever. Instead I was treated to unusually poor special effects, wooden acting by most of the kids, and two hours of religious propaganda cloaked as a children's tale. The whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth.
Max
The solution, at least in my case, is to put the conversation in the driving space
I think a better solution would be to shut the fuck up and drive. If you just have to talk to someone, do the rest of us a favor and pull over for the length of the call. If that's a problem you shouldn't be driving a car in the first place; stick to something that won't get other people killed, like public transport.
Max
The real problem here is just bad drivers.
No, the real problem is that EVERYONE becomes a bad driver when they aren't concentrating on driving. That includes you too, kid; you aren't anything special, and if you think you are you definitely don't belong behind the wheel of a car.
Max
but I know when I've almost been in one, and I can track the frequency of these occurences over the years as grouped by not talking on the phone, holding the phone, or using hands free.
If you have enough data to chart this sort of thing with any accuracy, then I suggest that you think about giving up driving altogether. It's rather apparent that you're a hazard on the road no matter what you are or aren't doing.
Max
I can't wait for the day when manual driving is no longer allowed. I'll be able to sit back in my car, reading a good book while enjoying my coffee, chuckling over the idea of all those kids going nuts over the fact that they're no longer able to drive like fucking maniacs whenever they feel like it, putting everyone else's lives in danger because they're convinced they're actually better at the task than everyone else.
Yep, the idea of all those frustrated little college boys going apeshit over 'the good o' days' will put a big, big smile on my face....
Max