I came in as F1, got a H1B, got green card and got citizenship just in time to vote against Rick Santorum. Hip hip hurrey!
But how did your salary compare to that of your American colleagues while you were an H1B employee? H1Bs are not bad because on one ever stays in US, but because it allows for worker exploitation/underpayment (while on H1B).
Ph D in STEM can already do that. Science Tech Engg and Math grads can jus apply for green card based on their degree. No employer sponsorship is needed. No offer of employment is needed. They already have full bargaining power.
No offense, but I believe you are just making shit up. Do you care to cite a reference? A number of my friends got a PhD and all they get is OPT which is good for 12 months and requires a (relevant) employment offer to match it those 12 months. My roommate is out of US now, because he had no way of staying here after graduating with a PhD.
You cannot apply for green card based on your PhD degree (unless you come from the parallel universe where common sense prevailed -- as that would be a great idea to allow this).
Instead of giving people H1B visas, why don't we just give them green cards, so they have the same employment bargaining rights that US citizens have so it becomes impossible to undercut local wages.
I think you answered your own question:)
In that case H1B visa holders would not be cheaper and who's going to hire them? A very large majority of H1B holders are brought in as cheaper labor and a tiny minority are hired as "unavailable talent".
Corporate America's solution to unemployment is importing cheaper labor from other countries.
Oddly enough, they have a completely different view on importing cheaper products from other countries
See DVD region encoding, out-of-country textbooks, software, etc.
BTW: do they somehow scan all of the merchandise that was brought into the secured area, like the bottled water that you can't bring across security?
No! That's the best part. As I am forced to throw away my water-bottle, I see a random worker bring in a palette of water bottles and go in without so much as a scan (they just open the door).
I am almost certain the airport vendors lobbied for that particular rule. Water/soda prices have almost doubled in the last few years.
So why not have a minimum salary for H1B employees? Increase with inflation every year of course.
Good first step but not enough.
Also, why not make it easy to transfer your H1B visa to a competitor? Otherwise, competitive pay or not, but what you get is an indentured servant who will be deported if fired.
Of course, the user has to be wearing a headset to detect the brainwaves. The software's creator hopes such detection can someday be integrated into devices like Google Glass.
I cannot get voice-dial to work on my new phone. It seems to pick something random and unrelated to what I say.
But I am sure a brain-wave detector will work seamlessly very soon.
As we have already seen via kickstarter and HIB this market exists and will pay. It however will not be able to fund AAA games
Oh, but I think it will be able to do that Torment is very, very close to hitting $4M (and that's just the pre-paid budget, they'll probably sell more games when done). Once kickstarter-based games are the only way to get something new and non-DRM-ed, I am sure we will see $10M+ kickstarter projects.
Gotta love that little gem here
Why not just allow games to be sold normally?
Every game is free to download, but then dumps on your head a load of nags, pop-ups, and pleas for upgrades or in-app purchases â" some games are $4.99, some are $15.99, others just constantly implore you to donate $.99 so the developer can have a beer. Worst of all, it makes buying things impossibly easy â" you enter a credit card when first setting up your Ouya, and there are often no confirmation boxes or checks against you spending thousands of dollars. Oh, you hit Upgrade because it's right next to Play and the controller's laggy? Perfect. Thanks for your money.
The first time I flew was in the 70's and I can remember seeing signs at the security checkpoints warning against joking about guns or bombs. It's not something distinctive to the TSA.
I was not around in the 70s, but I am guessing that the worst you were looking at was a stern talking by a security agent
TSA could probably have you put away for 10-20 years. Or, at the very least, put you on a no-fly list as a lesson for joking (no review or appeal against being on no-fly list)
You are wrong. Someone had already pointed out that TSA is edging to cover train station and other random locations. Moreover
You get enough people together and you all refuse to fly until the TSA is dismantled, and you know what'll happen?
Yes, I know what will happen. The airline companies will get bailed out.
What we really need is the ability to choose between TSA-enabled and non-TSA airports. I'd pay extra for a service like this.
"Oh but it isn't and I have no choice and I need to fly and-"...
I am reasonably principled, but not to the point of abandoning seeing my family. Are you?
when you find yourself in a police state and the TSA controls all major forms of travel- you'll wonder why you didn't do something sooner.
You are out of your mind. Supporting ACLU, protesting, maybe suing... But not traveling is really too indirect to be considered "doing something". Airlines will get bailed out or they will go bankrupt but that won't affect TSA -- our taxes are funding TSA, not the airline profits.
From outside it looks like that the military class has a disproportionately large influence in American politics.
I have an even better suggestion.
How about we start enforcing the existing physical Geneva convention. So that no excuse (such as "terrorism!") can be used to violate the Geneva convention rules.
Truth serum does not fucking work, period, at all. This has been known for many decades now. If it worked, we would've been using it against Bad Guys in Secret Prisons, and we're not.
Torture also does not work (well, not for the purposes of getting reliable information ) and that has been known for a while too. Didn't stop our administration(s) from using it.
vague as to make anyone who uses a computer for any reason, by any method, a felon?
Yes!
And the best part is that with such vague laws, the prosecutor could decide to go after anyone they want. The laws don't have to be enforced -- everyone is a felon and can be charged as needed.
There should be a law requiring to pursue existing charges against everyone and not based on prosecutor discretion. That would cut down on ridiculous laws overnight.
This is not the issue.
The problem is that plea-bargaining mechanism (an abomination in itself) leads to situation where to get 6 months (!) he was threatened with something like 30 or 50 years (yes, yes, federal guidelines, blah blah, but the judge would have discretion and it could lead to a lot more than 6 months)
Prosecutors should be barred from piling on an unreasonable number of charges just to scare the defendant into plea bargain.
Can you cite where Obama says targeted killings count as due process?
You can read a discussion right here. Granted, not Obama personally, but presumably Attorney General Eric Holder voices Obama's position
It was my understanding that the stance of the White House considers drone strikes as military actions that don't require due process.
Not so. Well, I think it is their position that they got 20 good reasons and this is just one of them:
"'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security." Holder said. "The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process."
Right, but you missed the part where Obama actually took the position that secret tribunals without you present or even aware of them can constitute "due process."
Obama can take a position that Congress needs to be summarily dismissed, since executive branch is handling things just fine without them.
But if he has no authority to do so, then Congress is supposed to stop him. After all the huffing and puffing, Congress cannot even seem to get a reading copy of legal memos authorizing drone strikes. How much more subservient can they get?
Sadly, you'll have to wait until there's a Republican in the White House before Reid or Pelosi speak against the drone strikes.
By then, that Republican president might simply execute them with drones. Speaking against drone strikes is equaled to "supporting terrorists" even now (by some).
Just think, if demand was high, Americans would be trying to get good University degrees and filling those jobs.
I think you got it wrong.
Americans have university degrees. Unfortunately, they demand a competitive salary (since getting a degree in US is expensive). Also, Americans tend to leave and get another job if they are underpaid
H1B employees, on the other hand, are forced to take what they are offered or lose their visa and go home.
Critics of the H-1B program see it as a way for companies to keep IT wages low, to discriminate against experienced U.S. workers, and to avoid labor law obligations.
Also, H-1B employees cannot easily go to another company if they are abused at their current job.
If invited H-1B workers were able to jump ship for better conditions, the market would reassert itself soon enough.
Slashdot Mirror
I came in as F1, got a H1B, got green card and got citizenship just in time to vote against Rick Santorum. Hip hip hurrey!
But how did your salary compare to that of your American colleagues while you were an H1B employee?
H1Bs are not bad because on one ever stays in US, but because it allows for worker exploitation/underpayment (while on H1B).
Ph D in STEM can already do that. Science Tech Engg and Math grads can jus apply for green card based on their degree. No employer sponsorship is needed. No offer of employment is needed. They already have full bargaining power.
No offense, but I believe you are just making shit up. Do you care to cite a reference? A number of my friends got a PhD and all they get is OPT which is good for 12 months and requires a (relevant) employment offer to match it those 12 months. My roommate is out of US now, because he had no way of staying here after graduating with a PhD.
You cannot apply for green card based on your PhD degree (unless you come from the parallel universe where common sense prevailed -- as that would be a great idea to allow this).
Instead of giving people H1B visas, why don't we just give them green cards, so they have the same employment bargaining rights that US citizens have so it becomes impossible to undercut local wages.
I think you answered your own question :)
In that case H1B visa holders would not be cheaper and who's going to hire them?
A very large majority of H1B holders are brought in as cheaper labor and a tiny minority are hired as "unavailable talent".
Corporate America's solution to unemployment is importing cheaper labor from other countries.
Oddly enough, they have a completely different view on importing cheaper products from other countries
See DVD region encoding, out-of-country textbooks, software, etc.
BTW: do they somehow scan all of the merchandise that was brought into the secured area, like the bottled water that you can't bring across security?
No! That's the best part. As I am forced to throw away my water-bottle, I see a random worker bring in a palette of water bottles and go in without so much as a scan (they just open the door).
I am almost certain the airport vendors lobbied for that particular rule. Water/soda prices have almost doubled in the last few years.
Well, if they are laying off 75% of their workers, I guess they don't consider them part of the "core assets."
Indeed -- my first question is: "Who's getting a huge bonus for successful maximizing of 'core assets'?"
talent pool is lacking = we don't want to pay
So why not have a minimum salary for H1B employees? Increase with inflation every year of course.
Good first step but not enough.
Also, why not make it easy to transfer your H1B visa to a competitor? Otherwise, competitive pay or not, but what you get is an indentured servant who will be deported if fired.
Of course, the user has to be wearing a headset to detect the brainwaves. The software's creator hopes such detection can someday be integrated into devices like Google Glass.
I cannot get voice-dial to work on my new phone. It seems to pick something random and unrelated to what I say.
But I am sure a brain-wave detector will work seamlessly very soon.
"When quizzed by other Twitter users about people with no internet connection, he suggested that they should get one"
Hah!
"After surveying other Twitter users, he determined that 100% of the users had internet connection."
So clearly a non-issue.
As we have already seen via kickstarter and HIB this market exists and will pay. It however will not be able to fund AAA games
Oh, but I think it will be able to do that
Torment is very, very close to hitting $4M (and that's just the pre-paid budget, they'll probably sell more games when done). Once kickstarter-based games are the only way to get something new and non-DRM-ed, I am sure we will see $10M+ kickstarter projects.
Why not just allow games to be sold normally?
Every game is free to download, but then dumps on your head a load of nags, pop-ups, and pleas for upgrades or in-app purchases â" some games are $4.99, some are $15.99, others just constantly implore you to donate $.99 so the developer can have a beer. Worst of all, it makes buying things impossibly easy â" you enter a credit card when first setting up your Ouya, and there are often no confirmation boxes or checks against you spending thousands of dollars. Oh, you hit Upgrade because it's right next to Play and the controller's laggy? Perfect. Thanks for your money.
The first time I flew was in the 70's and I can remember seeing signs at the security checkpoints warning against joking about guns or bombs. It's not something distinctive to the TSA.
I was not around in the 70s, but I am guessing that the worst you were looking at was a stern talking by a security agent
TSA could probably have you put away for 10-20 years. Or, at the very least, put you on a no-fly list as a lesson for joking (no review or appeal against being on no-fly list)
You get enough people together and you all refuse to fly until the TSA is dismantled, and you know what'll happen?
Yes, I know what will happen. The airline companies will get bailed out.
What we really need is the ability to choose between TSA-enabled and non-TSA airports. I'd pay extra for a service like this.
"Oh but it isn't and I have no choice and I need to fly and-"...
I am reasonably principled, but not to the point of abandoning seeing my family. Are you?
when you find yourself in a police state and the TSA controls all major forms of travel- you'll wonder why you didn't do something sooner.
You are out of your mind. Supporting ACLU, protesting, maybe suing... But not traveling is really too indirect to be considered "doing something". Airlines will get bailed out or they will go bankrupt but that won't affect TSA -- our taxes are funding TSA, not the airline profits.
a fingerprint scanner built into the screen, facial recognition powered by high-definition cameras, and voice recognition
Oooh, and if you cut your finger/forget to shave or lose your voice temporarily -- who needs to use their phone every day?
From outside it looks like that the military class has a disproportionately large influence in American politics.
I have an even better suggestion.
How about we start enforcing the existing physical Geneva convention. So that no excuse (such as "terrorism!") can be used to violate the Geneva convention rules.
Truth serum does not fucking work, period, at all. This has been known for many decades now. If it worked, we would've been using it against Bad Guys in Secret Prisons, and we're not.
Torture also does not work (well, not for the purposes of getting reliable information ) and that has been known for a while too. Didn't stop our administration(s) from using it.
In other news, a sequel to Planescape: Torment got funded on Kickstarter in 6 hours flat. It looks like the good guys are finally winning for once.
Here's hoping they'll set a new record
They have more than doubled the initial $900,000 goal ($1,903,586 as of now), after less than 2 days on kickstarter.
vague as to make anyone who uses a computer for any reason, by any method, a felon?
Yes!
And the best part is that with such vague laws, the prosecutor could decide to go after anyone they want. The laws don't have to be enforced -- everyone is a felon and can be charged as needed.
There should be a law requiring to pursue existing charges against everyone and not based on prosecutor discretion. That would cut down on ridiculous laws overnight.
What he did was really illegal.
SHOULD it be super illegal? No. Of course not.
This is not the issue.
The problem is that plea-bargaining mechanism (an abomination in itself) leads to situation where to get 6 months (!) he was threatened with something like 30 or 50 years (yes, yes, federal guidelines, blah blah, but the judge would have discretion and it could lead to a lot more than 6 months)
Prosecutors should be barred from piling on an unreasonable number of charges just to scare the defendant into plea bargain.
Can you cite where Obama says targeted killings count as due process?
You can read a discussion right here. Granted, not Obama personally, but presumably Attorney General Eric Holder voices Obama's position
It was my understanding that the stance of the White House considers drone strikes as military actions that don't require due process.
Not so. Well, I think it is their position that they got 20 good reasons and this is just one of them:
"'Due process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security." Holder said. "The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process."
Right, but you missed the part where Obama actually took the position that secret tribunals without you present or even aware of them can constitute "due process."
Obama can take a position that Congress needs to be summarily dismissed, since executive branch is handling things just fine without them.
But if he has no authority to do so, then Congress is supposed to stop him. After all the huffing and puffing, Congress cannot even seem to get a reading copy of legal memos authorizing drone strikes. How much more subservient can they get?
Sadly, you'll have to wait until there's a Republican in the White House before Reid or Pelosi speak against the drone strikes.
By then, that Republican president might simply execute them with drones. Speaking against drone strikes is equaled to "supporting terrorists" even now (by some).
Paul says he is 'alarmed' at the lack of definition over who can be targeted by drone strikes.
Why isn't EVERYONE IN CONGRESS alarmed by this?
Just think, if demand was high, Americans would be trying to get good University degrees and filling those jobs.
I think you got it wrong.
Americans have university degrees. Unfortunately, they demand a competitive salary (since getting a degree in US is expensive). Also, Americans tend to leave and get another job if they are underpaid
H1B employees, on the other hand, are forced to take what they are offered or lose their visa and go home.
Critics of the H-1B program see it as a way for companies to keep IT wages low, to discriminate against experienced U.S. workers, and to avoid labor law obligations.
Also, H-1B employees cannot easily go to another company if they are abused at their current job.
If invited H-1B workers were able to jump ship for better conditions, the market would reassert itself soon enough.