...to point to the West's (undoubted) human right failures, and say "we are no better than they." Guantanemo Bay is just one example; you could add the goings on at the prison in Iraq, or the temporary "extradition" of terror suspects to regimes like Saudi Arabia, who do torturing for the US government.
No doubt, Western governments (not even European ones;-)) are far from perfect. And groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International point to US and European shortcomings on a regular basis.
But to pretend this somehow means that the US is no better than Nazi Germany, Communist China, or Theologist Iran is absurd and disturbing.
In the US, as in Europe, the people can choose "regime change" every five years, if they don't like the government. Anyone (practically) can stand for government, even former wresters and movie starts. There are a range of different political parties, and even when they do not win power, they could, and they help shape the agenda.
Is that true of China? Or Iran?
In the West, women generally have equal rights to men; whites to blacks; and jews to Muslims.
In Saudi Arabia, and much of the Middle East, your rights are severely curtailed, or practically non-existent, if you fail to have the "right" charectaristics.
Best of all: in the West we have a (basically) free press, and freedom of expression. You can say whatever you want! It can be disturbing (eulogies to paedophilia, or support of mass-murder), but it exists.
In China, or Iran, or so many other places, saying the wrong thing lands you in jail.
Tell me again that the US is just as bad as China. Tell me you would really rather live there. Tell me which of your rights you no longer wish to excercise. Tell me which of my rights you think I don't deserve.
Actually, there are many, many types of libertarians. Some believe there should be no government at all, some believe in a very small one (minimal statists), some believe that contracts between individuals can somehow replace government.
Libertarian covers a wide variety of sins (and virtues). Best not to use Slashdot as an excuse for "define your terms" pedantry.;-)
I'm not so sure I agree with you. But, this is Slashdot...
1) Slashdot readers are special and unique. This doesn't mean *their current jobs* won't be outsourced, but it does mean that they will probably picl themselves up off the floor and find something more interesting to do.
2) I have read Galbraith (largely Keynesian, loved Money Whence it Came, Where it Went), Smith, and many, many others. And I regard myself as a capitalist, and am sympathetic to libertarianism. This means I must accept unions: it's free association, baby!
Incidently, By and large I find Slashdot readers absurdly protectionist, and not in the lease "laissez faire". You would be hard pressed to find a serious academic economist who believed in protectionism, yet half of Slashdot seems paranoid that "their" job (which it isn't) is about to be outsourced to India or Khazakstan.
3) Yes, many Slashdot readers are young. Their priorities will change as they age. Beer gets replaced by mutual fund. So what? The rest of this paragraph makes no sense: Ayn Rand didn't like unions... and?
4) Agreed. But that was true for - say - textile workers in the 60s, steel workers in the 70s, or car workers in the 80s. And the unions didn't do such a great job at protecting those industries.
Look - I agree with unions. If you are to allow companies to gang up, then you must allow workers. Anything else would be absurd. And unions have often been an amazing force for good, fighting for better working conditions and stopping some very evil companies from behaving very badly indeed.
But that won't stop globalisation. You probably have a Sony stereo; you just used your dollars to vote an American electronics worker out of a job. Buy a Honda? Or "Made in China" textiles or toys? Same thing, you just voted against American workers.
Laws, or unions will not stop globalisation. You must decide what you want; cheap electronics and cars, with American workers constantly having to seek out new opportunties (i.e. jobs), etc - or jobs for Americans in traditional industries and expensive, often poorly made, goods. You cannot have both.
I am an *ace* Linux programmer. I have submitted thousands of patches to the Linux kernel (I'm afraid I don't understand how CVS works, so I'm not sure exactly how many were incorporated, but I'm guessing it's pretty damn near 100%).
I am available for hire, or indeed for lunch.
If the person I have lunch with could be female and attractive, that would be a double bonus, because I could tell my friends I had a girlfriend and get them to oogle us through the window of the restaraunt.
Please send the limo and a million dollar cheque to ###***censored by CmdrTaco***###
It's amazing - there is (and rightly so) a huge desire to say to Tony Blair "NO! Stop playing with Mr Bush and get back to running Britain. Which you did pretty well the last seven or eight years."
And I don't see anyone turning back to the Tories (especially, I might add, with the loathsome Howard as leader). So I suspect the Lib Dems are going to do rather well in the May lcoal elections...
4 entries found for Stenography. stenography ( P ) Pronunciation Key (st-ngr-f) n. The art or process of writing in shorthand. The art or practice of transcribing speech with a stenograph machine. Material transcribed in shorthand.
Thank goodness. Reading this thread I thought I was the only one who actually changed their Apple "buds" for decent headphones.
Now - and this may sound a little like a troll - I LOATHE in-ear headphones. They are uncomfortable, they fall out, and (in my case at least) they get this funny red wax all over them. Hence, I have replaced mine with cheap Sony noice cancelling ones.
(Which means, should anyone rey and mug me, I have an excuse for not hearing them.;-))
I'm 29, I started programming when I was about 10. I love to program. But I don't work as a programmer; if I worked as a programmer, I'd hate it. Instead I program for fun, and love it.
Most computer related jobs are boring. Just as most building or dental or whatever jobs are boring. Too many people I know entered computing because they read of these fantastic salaries. Some of my friends in '99 were (aged 24) were earning $150k as Y2K contractors (with v. limited skillsets).
Forget India, there are simply too many people chasing too few computing jobs. That's what has given you job insecurity.
Go and do something boring (finance, accounting, law), so that when you program, you're doing it for fun.
The open source community has always been very capable of technical innovation and development. When something has become standardised in some way, open souce can come along and replicate it in a less crash-prone, etc way.
Open source does not employee strategists and user groups and marketing departments. Hence why it is better at copying (and improving and refining) what has gone before.
It is the old process of innovation, adoption, standardisation, commoditisation that - in all probability - is older even than the software industry.
This is *not* the way WTO rules work. This is how conspiracy theorists think WTO rules work.
It is not an unfair subsidy, and there is no way WTO rules could regard it as such. (Furthermore, you'd need to see the US lodge an official complaint... and I think they have other things on their mind right now. Like steel, outsourcing, and agricultre).
Companies are owned by their shareholders. Directors have a fiduciary duty to their owners: they must manage the business in their interest. They aren't there to manage "expectations", or to drive their stock price. The job of a company is to make money for its owners, plain and simple.
(This is what Regis at Adelphia, Ken Lay at Enron, everybody at Worldcom etc. forgot)
What companies DO NOT exist for is to provide jobs for Americans, Indians or anyone else.
If you want Amercan companies to be run for the benefit of the - abstractly - American economy, or American workers, then that's fine. But you must expect in turn that foreign countries will impose tariffs on American goods, and you must accept that companies will make a lot less money. You must accept that VC money (and other sources of finance) will flow to places where the business environment is nicer. And you must expect that entreupreners will - instead of coming to America - will leave to go to more free market countries.
If you still think that's good for America, that's fine. But you cannot abstractly tell companies how to manage their business.
If you want to discourage outsourcing to India, then there is a way to do it (also known as the South Korean way;-)). Vote with your dollars. Don't buy from companies that outsource; start a consumer advocacy group (like the ones that pressured businesses not to invest in South Africa).
1. Abundant natural resources.
- very true; but Nigeria and South Africa are poor despite terrific natural resources, and Japan and HK are rich despite the opposite. 2. Slavery, followed by cheap immigrant labour.
- Re Slavery; it was much more prevalent in the *poorer* South. 3. A large population.
- Well... chicken and egg. 4. Good education.
- Comparatively, yes. 5. Capitalism.
- Definitely. 6. A government willing to use its muscle (military and economic) to get its way.
- America's international importance was growing even when it was isolationist (in the '30s, etc.)
Can I reorder:
1. Capitalism 2. Education 3. A constant supply of new workers (migrants) 4. Natural resources 5. A government willing to through it's weight around.
The Comcast share price falling and the Disney price rising is JUST ARBITRAGE. It means nothing about what people expect the combined business to do.
If I want to buy company X, I must pay more than the current price (a premium). So, I must offer more of my own stock than I recieve in return:
Slashdot Inc. shares trade at $22; Google Inc. trades at $18. (I'm assuming both companies have identical number of shares for similicities sake...)
As Slashdot, I want to buy Google. So I offer one Slashdot share for every Google share. Google share holders go "hmmm... I get a share worth $22, instead of my one worth $18, good deal".
*BUT* and here's the kicker. There are thousands of arbitrageurs who sense a perfect profit - they SHORT Slashdot (driving the share price down), and BUY GOOGLE (driving it up). So, Slashdot goes down, Google up... it's... just... arbitrage...
And I don't think the Beareau of Economic Affairs is some biased organisation.
Do your figures include part-time workers? Etc.
I think the $5trn wages, $1trn non-wage benefits, $1trn propreiter earnings, are about right. Seriously, check out the Beureau of Economic Affairs.
I never voted for Bush, and ner would (unless it was a choice between Bush and Hitler, and then it'd be a close call), but I do not believe he has subverted the goverment statstical service.
Slashdot Mirror
...to point to the West's (undoubted) human right failures, and say "we are no better than they." Guantanemo Bay is just one example; you could add the goings on at the prison in Iraq, or the temporary "extradition" of terror suspects to regimes like Saudi Arabia, who do torturing for the US government.
;-)) are far from perfect. And groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International point to US and European shortcomings on a regular basis.
No doubt, Western governments (not even European ones
But to pretend this somehow means that the US is no better than Nazi Germany, Communist China, or Theologist Iran is absurd and disturbing.
In the US, as in Europe, the people can choose "regime change" every five years, if they don't like the government. Anyone (practically) can stand for government, even former wresters and movie starts. There are a range of different political parties, and even when they do not win power, they could, and they help shape the agenda.
Is that true of China? Or Iran?
In the West, women generally have equal rights to men; whites to blacks; and jews to Muslims.
In Saudi Arabia, and much of the Middle East, your rights are severely curtailed, or practically non-existent, if you fail to have the "right" charectaristics.
Best of all: in the West we have a (basically) free press, and freedom of expression. You can say whatever you want! It can be disturbing (eulogies to paedophilia, or support of mass-murder), but it exists.
In China, or Iran, or so many other places, saying the wrong thing lands you in jail.
Tell me again that the US is just as bad as China. Tell me you would really rather live there. Tell me which of your rights you no longer wish to excercise. Tell me which of my rights you think I don't deserve.
Err... EUR10m is $12m...
Yes, but anyone with half a brain can set up differential GPS systems. Now the DOP is irrelevent.
See http://www.eurofix.tudelft.nl/dgps.htm for details.
You are absolutely right. I fscked up beyond all belief.
Now, I know it seems hard to believe but I'm sure saw it somewhere. My apologies to the person I've accused of lying/stealing/karmic whoring.
STOLEN!
That anecdote was on http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_stuptech.shtml
Bah. Stealing anecdotes to get Slashdot "karma". It doesn't get much lamer than that.
Actually, there are many, many types of libertarians. Some believe there should be no government at all, some believe in a very small one (minimal statists), some believe that contracts between individuals can somehow replace government.
;-)
Libertarian covers a wide variety of sins (and virtues). Best not to use Slashdot as an excuse for "define your terms" pedantry.
Come on! Think on the bright side. Skiing in England... skiing in England... and errr... skiing in England!
I'm not so sure I agree with you. But, this is Slashdot...
1) Slashdot readers are special and unique. This doesn't mean *their current jobs* won't be outsourced, but it does mean that they will probably picl themselves up off the floor and find something more interesting to do.
2) I have read Galbraith (largely Keynesian, loved Money Whence it Came, Where it Went), Smith, and many, many others. And I regard myself as a capitalist, and am sympathetic to libertarianism. This means I must accept unions: it's free association, baby!
Incidently, By and large I find Slashdot readers absurdly protectionist, and not in the lease "laissez faire". You would be hard pressed to find a serious academic economist who believed in protectionism, yet half of Slashdot seems paranoid that "their" job (which it isn't) is about to be outsourced to India or Khazakstan.
3) Yes, many Slashdot readers are young. Their priorities will change as they age. Beer gets replaced by mutual fund. So what? The rest of this paragraph makes no sense: Ayn Rand didn't like unions... and?
4) Agreed. But that was true for - say - textile workers in the 60s, steel workers in the 70s, or car workers in the 80s. And the unions didn't do such a great job at protecting those industries.
Look - I agree with unions. If you are to allow companies to gang up, then you must allow workers. Anything else would be absurd. And unions have often been an amazing force for good, fighting for better working conditions and stopping some very evil companies from behaving very badly indeed.
But that won't stop globalisation. You probably have a Sony stereo; you just used your dollars to vote an American electronics worker out of a job. Buy a Honda? Or "Made in China" textiles or toys? Same thing, you just voted against American workers.
Laws, or unions will not stop globalisation. You must decide what you want; cheap electronics and cars, with American workers constantly having to seek out new opportunties (i.e. jobs), etc - or jobs for Americans in traditional industries and expensive, often poorly made, goods. You cannot have both.
Too long. Too much a rant. Too much beer.
Cheers,
Robert
Attn: Microsoft
I am an *ace* Linux programmer. I have submitted thousands of patches to the Linux kernel (I'm afraid I don't understand how CVS works, so I'm not sure exactly how many were incorporated, but I'm guessing it's pretty damn near 100%).
I am available for hire, or indeed for lunch.
If the person I have lunch with could be female and attractive, that would be a double bonus, because I could tell my friends I had a girlfriend and get them to oogle us through the window of the restaraunt.
Please send the limo and a million dollar cheque to ###***censored by CmdrTaco***###
Thanks!
Robert
It's amazing - there is (and rightly so) a huge desire to say to Tony Blair "NO! Stop playing with Mr Bush and get back to running Britain. Which you did pretty well the last seven or eight years."
And I don't see anyone turning back to the Tories (especially, I might add, with the loathsome Howard as leader). So I suspect the Lib Dems are going to do rather well in the May lcoal elections...
Actually, Wales isn't a Principality. Everyone assumes it is, because there is a Prince of Wales.
*But* the head of state in Wales is still the Queen. Wales is not a country. Wales is "just" a part of Great Britain.
(When I say "just", I mean it ironically.)
Hmmm...
According to dictionary.co that means...
4 entries found for Stenography.
stenography ( P ) Pronunciation Key (st-ngr-f)
n.
The art or process of writing in shorthand.
The art or practice of transcribing speech with a stenograph machine.
Material transcribed in shorthand.
Do you perhaps mean Steganography
Thank goodness. Reading this thread I thought I was the only one who actually changed their Apple "buds" for decent headphones.
;-))
Now - and this may sound a little like a troll - I LOATHE in-ear headphones. They are uncomfortable, they fall out, and (in my case at least) they get this funny red wax all over them. Hence, I have replaced mine with cheap Sony noice cancelling ones.
(Which means, should anyone rey and mug me, I have an excuse for not hearing them.
I have a better analogy. (And this is purely hypothetical, as a geek and Slashdot reader I - obviously - have no direct experience.)
If I had sex for a job, I might not enjoy it very much, and might have to do with unattractive people.
If I only had sex with people I wanted to have sex with, and then only occasionally, I might enjoy it a bit more.
Of course there is a big difference between programming and sex. But...
No it isn't.
I'm 29, I started programming when I was about 10. I love to program. But I don't work as a programmer; if I worked as a programmer, I'd hate it. Instead I program for fun, and love it.
Most computer related jobs are boring. Just as most building or dental or whatever jobs are boring. Too many people I know entered computing because they read of these fantastic salaries. Some of my friends in '99 were (aged 24) were earning $150k as Y2K contractors (with v. limited skillsets).
Forget India, there are simply too many people chasing too few computing jobs. That's what has given you job insecurity.
Go and do something boring (finance, accounting, law), so that when you program, you're doing it for fun.
The open source community has always been very capable of technical innovation and development. When something has become standardised in some way, open souce can come along and replicate it in a less crash-prone, etc way.
Open source does not employee strategists and user groups and marketing departments. Hence why it is better at copying (and improving and refining) what has gone before.
It is the old process of innovation, adoption, standardisation, commoditisation that - in all probability - is older even than the software industry.
Why is this pegged as informative?
This is *not* the way WTO rules work. This is how conspiracy theorists think WTO rules work.
It is not an unfair subsidy, and there is no way WTO rules could regard it as such. (Furthermore, you'd need to see the US lodge an official complaint... and I think they have other things on their mind right now. Like steel, outsourcing, and agricultre).
You do know that ozone is highly poisonous and carcenogenic, don't you?
I'm just asking, because what's bad for microbes is often bad for you.
The problem is:
;-)). Vote with your dollars. Don't buy from companies that outsource; start a consumer advocacy group (like the ones that pressured businesses not to invest in South Africa).
Companies are owned by their shareholders. Directors have a fiduciary duty to their owners: they must manage the business in their interest. They aren't there to manage "expectations", or to drive their stock price. The job of a company is to make money for its owners, plain and simple.
(This is what Regis at Adelphia, Ken Lay at Enron, everybody at Worldcom etc. forgot)
What companies DO NOT exist for is to provide jobs for Americans, Indians or anyone else.
If you want Amercan companies to be run for the benefit of the - abstractly - American economy, or American workers, then that's fine. But you must expect in turn that foreign countries will impose tariffs on American goods, and you must accept that companies will make a lot less money. You must accept that VC money (and other sources of finance) will flow to places where the business environment is nicer. And you must expect that entreupreners will - instead of coming to America - will leave to go to more free market countries.
If you still think that's good for America, that's fine. But you cannot abstractly tell companies how to manage their business.
If you want to discourage outsourcing to India, then there is a way to do it (also known as the South Korean way
But don't pass laws.
Does this mean I should start 10 $3bn law suits against random people, on the basis that I'll win one of them?
Finally... the solution to
1. Something.
2. SUE EVERYONE.
3. Profit.
Unfortunately, it's not publically traded.
They might have found getting through the due diligence process tough. And the lack of (allegedly) a real physical presence would have been a bummer.
MMMmmmm...
Adds a whole new meaning to The Mark Thomas Product
Y?
(www.mtcp.co.uk)
Hmmm. OK this is off-topic... but hey...
I'm not sure about your order:
1. Abundant natural resources.
- very true; but Nigeria and South Africa are poor despite terrific natural resources, and Japan and HK are rich despite the opposite.
2. Slavery, followed by cheap immigrant labour.
- Re Slavery; it was much more prevalent in the *poorer* South.
3. A large population.
- Well... chicken and egg.
4. Good education.
- Comparatively, yes.
5. Capitalism.
- Definitely.
6. A government willing to use its muscle (military and economic) to get its way.
- America's international importance was growing even when it was isolationist (in the '30s, etc.)
Can I reorder:
1. Capitalism
2. Education
3. A constant supply of new workers (migrants)
4. Natural resources
5. A government willing to through it's weight around.
Damnit!
The Comcast share price falling and the Disney price rising is JUST ARBITRAGE. It means nothing about what people expect the combined business to do.
If I want to buy company X, I must pay more than the current price (a premium). So, I must offer more of my own stock than I recieve in return:
Slashdot Inc. shares trade at $22; Google Inc. trades at $18. (I'm assuming both companies have identical number of shares for similicities sake...)
As Slashdot, I want to buy Google. So I offer one Slashdot share for every Google share. Google share holders go "hmmm... I get a share worth $22, instead of my one worth $18, good deal".
*BUT* and here's the kicker. There are thousands of arbitrageurs who sense a perfect profit - they SHORT Slashdot (driving the share price down), and BUY GOOGLE (driving it up). So, Slashdot goes down, Google up... it's... just... arbitrage...
Thanks,
Robert
Come, come, come,
Mean, median and mode.
And I don't think the Beareau of Economic Affairs is some biased organisation.
Do your figures include part-time workers? Etc.
I think the $5trn wages, $1trn non-wage benefits, $1trn propreiter earnings, are about right. Seriously, check out the Beureau of Economic Affairs.
I never voted for Bush, and ner would (unless it was a choice between Bush and Hitler, and then it'd be a close call), but I do not believe he has subverted the goverment statstical service.