Man, at my last job we *dreamed* about getting "50-60 hour weeks, put on call with no compensation, given unreasonable amounts of work and generally treated like dirt". After the first round of layoffs, my job sounded like what you describe......but there were 4 more rounds of layoffs after that, and each time someone in my group got axed, I got their workload added onto mine.
Try 80-90 hour weeks, 7 months without a Saturday or Sunday off so I could finish a project that my boss took credit for, denied a promotion because the reports of that same boss showed I wasn't really putting in an effort, and constant Warnings Of Doom from everyone about how if I quit I'd never be able to find another job.
My health got shot to hell, my attitude got shot to hell, my *life* got shot to hell... one day a co-worker asked my boss if he was worried I'd quit, given the ludicrous conditions, and my boss replied "he'll never quit... I *own* him".
I put in my notice the next day.
Months later, I'm still in bad health, attitude hasn't really improved, and I have made the decision to let my college degree gather dust rather than go through that again. I'm looking at going into manual labor, if my health improves enough to allow it, and taking a handful of sleeping pills, if it doesn't.
So what was your problem again? To me, it sounds like you live in fucking SUGAR COATED *FAIRY*LAND*, cavorting with the fucking ELVES and UNICORNS and TELETUBBIES, and you're complaining that you don't like the flavor of fucking MARMALADE they put on your fucking TOAST.
Yeah, you're right... they *can* rely on our GPS, and every other aspect of our commerce and technology... as long as their interests don't run contrary to those of the American government. If that happens, however, they can kiss GPS and the rest of it goodbye. We're their best friend, right up until we take our ball and go home.
We talk alot about 'freedom' in this country, as though we think it is a good thing. If we do think freedom is a good thing, why oppose the efforts of other countries to develop their own freedoms?
By 'a very expensive piece of infrastructure that the world needs only one instance of' are you refering to the US government/warmachine?
I think that since we have shown we don't want to play nicely with the other kiddies, they *should* get into the game on their own. They sure as hell can't rely on us... and if our (increasingly wacko) policies eventually target them (not really an unreasonable premise anymore) they might *need* their own infrastructure.
>>You're being FUCKING STUPID!!!
Yeah, well given the epidemic numbers of people who display the symptoms, apparently it's a communicable disease.
--
Foobario Frobnitzii
praying for A FUCKING PLAGUE
Funny you should mention this. I recently returned from six months in India, where I found that 'rural cybercafes catering to the everyday needs of the masses' is just a euphemism for 'surfing for pr0n'. I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a queue waiting for a computer to open up while, in full view of everyone else in the room, young guys surfed photos of improbably gymnastic and well-proportioned women. I asked one of my Indian workmates about it, and he said that internet porn was Bill Gates' gift to India. Forget the OS wars; I'll be happy when the Indian government provides 'first-pull-up-then-pull-down' disposable keyboard and mouse covers to protect users from cooties.
If the US really cared about 'pride' (instead of merely using the concept to boost profits on oil and bumper stickers), we'd do the following:
Aim the Hubble at the most convenient lunar landing site, and take some awesome pictures.
Little moon buggy, flag on a pole, the bottom of the lander, hell the tracks should still be visible given the lack of atmosphere... a fine coating of dust over everything, but otherwise perfect.
The Hubble should be able to get some awesome resolution. Turn the picture into a commemorative postal stamp sheet and sell large posters of it on the Home Shopping Network.
They could even make a special and show it on TV, if they can make room for it by cancelling Jerry Springer, the Alien Autopsy, or any one of the 17 shows wherein police officers beat up US citizens for our collective amusement.
9/11 is the new Godwin's Law... instead of a process where small minds cause every online discussion to inevitably lead to some comparison to Hitler or the Nazis, we now have a phenomenon where small minds perceive some sort of relevance to 9/11 in every discussion. Recall that many of these same small minds swore for weeks after 9/11 that 'if this changes our way of life at all, the terrorists have already won'...
How terribly droll.
"Lucas seemed to fall out of touch with post-9/11 America"? Good for him. Post-9/11 America still has it's head as far up its ass as it did pre-9/11.
BTW, the 'simple love story' scenes in Spiderman were deplorable... I've never seen such bad acting out of Kirsten Dunst... it was almost like there wasn't a director on the set that day, and they just decided to wing it.
The whole concept of a "post-9/11" reality is in itself absurd. Terrorism has always existed, and will continue to exist. The fact that it has reared its ugly head in our insular, uneducated, and delusional country changes *nothing* except the playing field, i.e. we can no longer ignore it to the extent we traditionally have... and besides, where was our outrage when *we* were inflicting terrorism on others? (cf Cambodia, Panama, etc).
This pathetic pandering attempt to attach the 'terrorism' moniker to anything we want to get the sheep riled up against is deplorable.
I'll believe in on-line terrorism when some kid uses his computer to launch a nuclear weapon... until then it is all propaganda.
I've used Paypal once a week or more since shortly after they started. I have *never* had a problem with anything worse than my browser (Opera) temporarily not handling their cookies correctly. When I started I used my credit card, then later I began to use them with my bank account, and have never been mischarged in over 300 transactions.
I think it is great that Paypal provided a more independent means of exchanging money. I know people who basically run web-based businesses with Paypal as their credit-card handler, which costs them less (time, money, hassle) than going through a traditional card service.
Wow... I usually come to/. in search of intelligent discourse. Usually I get it. Some days, like today, I get this sort of stuff instead.
I hope to hell evolution isn't over, so we can grow past our primitive Alpha-male worship and move on to something more constructive. If you want to see primates pandering to the mythical power of their alpha-male leader, watch the Discovery channel... and while you are watching it, flip back and forth between it and the all-the-prayer-all-the-time channel... you'll see such little difference between the behavior of the two groups that you will come to believe that evolution is a fact- and that it apparently stopped a couple of thousand years ago.
Slashdot Mirror
Man, at my last job we *dreamed* about getting "50-60 hour weeks, put on call with no compensation, given unreasonable amounts of work and generally treated like dirt". After the first round of layoffs, my job sounded like what you describe... ...but there were 4 more rounds of layoffs after that, and each time someone in my group got axed, I got their workload added onto mine.
Try 80-90 hour weeks, 7 months without a Saturday or Sunday off so I could finish a project that my boss took credit for, denied a promotion because the reports of that same boss showed I wasn't really putting in an effort, and constant Warnings Of Doom from everyone about how if I quit I'd never be able to find another job.
My health got shot to hell, my attitude got shot to hell, my *life* got shot to hell... one day a co-worker asked my boss if he was worried I'd quit, given the ludicrous conditions, and my boss replied "he'll never quit... I *own* him".
I put in my notice the next day.
Months later, I'm still in bad health, attitude hasn't really improved, and I have made the decision to let my college degree gather dust rather than go through that again. I'm looking at going into manual labor, if my health improves enough to allow it, and taking a handful of sleeping pills, if it doesn't.
So what was your problem again? To me, it sounds like you live in fucking SUGAR COATED *FAIRY*LAND*, cavorting with the fucking ELVES and UNICORNS and TELETUBBIES, and you're complaining that you don't like the flavor of fucking MARMALADE they put on your fucking TOAST.
... so many people I meet could be replaced by small shell scripts without any noticeable effects.
I think you mispelled 'Perl'.
Yeah, you're right... they *can* rely on our GPS, and every other aspect of our commerce and technology... as long as their interests don't run contrary to those of the American government. If that happens, however, they can kiss GPS and the rest of it goodbye. We're their best friend, right up until we take our ball and go home.
We talk alot about 'freedom' in this country, as though we think it is a good thing. If we do think freedom is a good thing, why oppose the efforts of other countries to develop their own freedoms?
Well said.
You'll still get modded down for it by my fellow Americans, but well said anyway.
>Unnecessarily duplicating...
By 'a very expensive piece of infrastructure that the world needs only one instance of' are you refering to the US government/warmachine?
I think that since we have shown we don't want to play nicely with the other kiddies, they *should* get into the game on their own. They sure as hell can't rely on us... and if our (increasingly wacko) policies eventually target them (not really an unreasonable premise anymore) they might *need* their own infrastructure.
> I therefore ask slashdot: are we alone on this opinion?
Yes.
Any other questions?
--
Foobario Frobnitzii
Orbital Mind Control Laser Technician
>Once again... someone confuses American pop culture with serious thought.
Aye, in much the same way people long ago confused Hebrew, Greek, and Roman pop culture (aka 'the bible') with serious thought.
--
'Go to hell'??? Will you save me a seat?
>>> a bunch of stuff
Your satire of President Bush contains a number of flaws that strain the credibility of your claim to be George Bush:
1. The words are mostly spelled correctly
2. The arguments are internally consistent
3. The post contains a few verifiable facts.
Sheesh, how do you expect to convince people if you don't research your material first?
-
Foobario Frobnitzii
Praying for A FUCKING PLAGUE
>>You're being FUCKING STUPID!!! Yeah, well given the epidemic numbers of people who display the symptoms, apparently it's a communicable disease. -- Foobario Frobnitzii praying for A FUCKING PLAGUE
Funny you should mention this. I recently returned from six months in India, where I found that 'rural cybercafes catering to the everyday needs of the masses' is just a euphemism for 'surfing for pr0n'.
I can't tell you how many times I've sat in a queue waiting for a computer to open up while, in full view of everyone else in the room, young guys surfed photos of improbably gymnastic and well-proportioned women. I asked one of my Indian workmates about it, and he said that internet porn was Bill Gates' gift to India.
Forget the OS wars; I'll be happy when the Indian government provides 'first-pull-up-then-pull-down' disposable keyboard and mouse covers to protect users from cooties.
Aim the Hubble at the most convenient lunar landing site, and take some awesome pictures.
Little moon buggy, flag on a pole, the bottom of the lander, hell the tracks should still be visible given the lack of atmosphere... a fine coating of dust over everything, but otherwise perfect.
The Hubble should be able to get some awesome resolution. Turn the picture into a commemorative postal stamp sheet and sell large posters of it on the Home Shopping Network.
They could even make a special and show it on TV, if they can make room for it by cancelling Jerry Springer, the Alien Autopsy, or any one of the 17 shows wherein police officers beat up US citizens for our collective amusement.
- Foobario Frobnitzii, Evil Genius
9/11 is the new Godwin's Law... instead of a process where small minds cause every online discussion to inevitably lead to some comparison to Hitler or the Nazis, we now have a phenomenon where small minds perceive some sort of relevance to 9/11 in every discussion. Recall that many of these same small minds swore for weeks after 9/11 that 'if this changes our way of life at all, the terrorists have already won'...
How terribly droll.
"Lucas seemed to fall out of touch with post-9/11 America"? Good for him. Post-9/11 America still has it's head as far up its ass as it did pre-9/11.
BTW, the 'simple love story' scenes in Spiderman were deplorable... I've never seen such bad acting out of Kirsten Dunst... it was almost like there wasn't a director on the set that day, and they just decided to wing it.
The whole concept of a "post-9/11" reality is in itself absurd. Terrorism has always existed, and will continue to exist. The fact that it has reared its ugly head in our insular, uneducated, and delusional country changes *nothing* except the playing field, i.e. we can no longer ignore it to the extent we traditionally have... and besides, where was our outrage when *we* were inflicting terrorism on others? (cf Cambodia, Panama, etc). This pathetic pandering attempt to attach the 'terrorism' moniker to anything we want to get the sheep riled up against is deplorable. I'll believe in on-line terrorism when some kid uses his computer to launch a nuclear weapon... until then it is all propaganda.
I've used Paypal once a week or more since shortly after they started. I have *never* had a problem with anything worse than my browser (Opera) temporarily not handling their cookies correctly. When I started I used my credit card, then later I began to use them with my bank account, and have never been mischarged in over 300 transactions. I think it is great that Paypal provided a more independent means of exchanging money. I know people who basically run web-based businesses with Paypal as their credit-card handler, which costs them less (time, money, hassle) than going through a traditional card service.
Wow... I usually come to /. in search of intelligent discourse. Usually I get it. Some days, like today, I get this sort of stuff instead.
I hope to hell evolution isn't over, so we can grow past our primitive Alpha-male worship and move on to something more constructive. If you want to see primates pandering to the mythical power of their alpha-male leader, watch the Discovery channel... and while you are watching it, flip back and forth between it and the all-the-prayer-all-the-time channel... you'll see such little difference between the behavior of the two groups that you will come to believe that evolution is a fact- and that it apparently stopped a couple of thousand years ago.