the ec is a joke, popular vote isnt skewed, its exactly as its labeled...and should be taken as such.
The Electoral College does exactly what it was intended to do, which is protect states' rights. Each state can assign its electors in the manner of their choosing, most assigning them as winner take all. The name of the country is the United States of America, not the Democracy of America. If you want to change it from a republic to a democracy, then get out and campaign for it.
When a serial killer is caught, they should be incarcerated and every attempt should be made, in good faith, to help them deal with what's inside of them.
When a serial killer has applied for a Darwin award, they should be rewarded. That is the point of the social compact, our society, and our laws. Remove the aberrations from the gene pool.
That actually is a good point and in fact if you think about it, the laws the government makes is *based* off revenge. You speed in your car, you get a ticket and pay a fine. You murder someone, you get the death penalty or life in prison. While this is meant to control the masses and such it is basically the governments "revenge" on that person's wrong doing.
I disagree. Laws and government are based on a social contract and are about retribution and compensation. Revenge, on the other hand, is very personal and is a dish best served cold for the ultimate satisfaction. (Attributions to Kahn and many others before.) Revenge is something to be savored at length, as much in the planning as in the doing and the end result; the clerk at the counter doesn't give a hoot about your speeding fine or gain any satisfaction from it. Not that I would have any personal knowledge about revenge or stuff like that.
You're telling me a judge actually went out and said, nah, that recount thing is old fashioned, we don't really need it?
No, the person in charge of Florida's elections and protecting the rights of voters said that recounting was not needed. The judge said that Glenda Hood was full of it and did not have the authority to change state laws. So, at least for once, the Florida courts have managed to produce a sane ruling.
Everything would be on one continuous numbered roll. With each vote accounted for in the same manner as those numbered voting slips they give us now.
The point of verification is to allow the voter to cancel. You don't want a continuous roll. One system that has been demonstrated prints and displays a sheet for each voter which can be accepted or rejected. If accepted, it goes in the ballot box, otherwise it's shredded, and the voter tries again.
Why would it be so damn hard for the e-voting machines to print out a receipt after a person votes - a receipt that is retained by the states? The whole point of e-voting is ease of use - maybe even cheaper deployment. But why would it be so hard to implement such a system...or is it all politics & big business?
It isn't hard to implement. Sample systems have been demonstrated. And yes, it's all about big business making billions of dollars from ill-considered legislation following the 2000 election.
The companies that make the E-voting machines have a vested interest in making everyone believe the machines are infallible, which they are not. The companies have formed an association and hired Harris Miller of the ITAA, who will say anything for a dollar. He's been doing it too, claiming that anyone who doesn't trust the machines is just an open source commie out to hurt the poor little companies that make the wonderful voting machines. I'm sure that guy has someone else shave him because there is no way he could ever face himself in a mirror.
The point is simple, you either trust the system to work properly or you don't.
Sure it's simple. I don't trust the black-box voting machines. How many problems have to be reported before people finally realize these machines are not perfect? The paper trail means there is a fallback position when things go wrong.
Just look at the farce that happened in 2000 with Bush in Florida.
As I pointed out in a comment above, the Diebold machines in one Florida county returned a negative number for one candidate during that election.
If the correct count is close (i.e. a human would be likely to get it wrong), then we bring in the humans to add error. So yeah, stealing the election...but not by the machines.
During the 2000 election, the Diebold machines in Florida's Volusia County returned negative 16,022 votes for one candidate. Obviously those infallible machines were right, and we wouldn't want to introduce human error by having a recount.
Hey, I see your point but it really doesn't have much to do with capitalism, since it isn't practiced in the U.S. If it were, Carly would be selling on a street corner instead of chopping heads in a boardroom (not that I'd buy any). What we have is a government and corporate oligarchy controlled by monied interests and the best legislature that money can buy.
Geez. I've been writing code and schematics for decades, and I don't have any of those things. I'm thinking someone has been severely shorting my paycheck.
Why is it ok to import sneakers and t-shirts from cheap Phillipine workers and importing "office jobs" is not?
It has never been "ok" in any case. The exportation of jobs has been fought at every new turn. In every case, the American workers have lost for the benefit of corporate management. CEO compensation for large companies in the 50's averaged about six times the wage of the average worker. Now the average compensation for a CEO in a large company is over $9 million. For IT companies, compensation over $20 million is commonplace. We now have CEOs making a thousand times the average worker's salary for getting rid of the workers who are the company.
During every new exportation of jobs, the corporate refrain has been, "You peons should retrain for better jobs." Well, now there are no "better" jobs to retrain for, and the peons know it.
It's frustrating enough having to deal with a dumbass who knows less about resolving problems than you, but when you can't understand each other, it's like being in the 8th circle of Hell.
What's worse is calling tech support, and "Roy Bob" answers saying, "Hi Y'all, how am I being of service?" with an unidentifiable but possibly Texan accent. It can only go downhill from there.
An interesting post. I can't figure out if it's insightful but short-sighted or a subtle troll.
Verbal duels are really only possible in a society where there's enough equality to provide for people to walk away with a measure of respect. The savage inequality in America, wrought by the right wing and deepening since the 1980s, doesn't permit that.
The "savage" inequality in America seems relatively benign compared to the inequality during the 1800's. Admittedly the gap does seem to be widening again, but why is that "wrought by the right wing" when both wings are corporate puppets? Since you mention outsourcing, you do realize that Hillary Clinton is a major supporter of Tata and outsourcing New York jobs, don't you? She's hardly "right wing".
You see, assault is a crime. Saying something another does not like is not a crime. Even stupid people understand this.
It depends on what you say; there is a term called "fighting words" that judges understand. Cross that line, and the judge won't be overly concerned by your missing teeth. If your statements are considered verbal abuse, that can also get you into trouble.
If they're determine I can scrap when I need to...and it's self defense so you can get dirty.
There are many things you can't do in self-defense. You can't shoot someone for punching you. You can't use your feet. If you're trained in any form of fighting, you had better not hit back at all - you'd better run if you don't want to end up in prison paying reparation.
The law is there to keep assholes who can't use their words in check.
There is also law that keeps people who can't control their words in check. IMHO, it might be better to simply remain polite and civil, whether it be in public or on Slashdot.
[Farscape jumped the shark] when Scorpius joined the crew.
He didn't exactly "join" the crew, unless you think that being kept in confinement or under supervision is *joining*. It was a matter of mutual survival with a number of sub-plots. The one involving Jool was probably a red herring, but we never got to find out. Strange alliances are Farscape's forte. Scorpius was still after John's knowledge, and John knew it, which led to the whole sniffing-drugs-to-forget-Aeryn thing (pause for a breath) because John knew Scorpius would use Aeryn and their baby-to-be as leverage against them.
There were some strange episodes, but it was the most innovative SciFi on TV - if you didn't keep up, you got lost. Farscape didn't try to tell stories that could only fit into an hour, nor did it waste a half hour bringing you up to speed every episode. I found it continually interesting and enjoyable, and I haven't paid any attention to the Horror (SciFi) Channel since they dropped it.
In defense of Word, the "track changes" feature is very handy for having someone else proofread/edit your documents.
Yes, it's also great for those internal MS Halloween documents that get leaked. Nothing like being bitten by your own dog food (to mangle a couple of old cliches).
Was there a point to that uninformed, meandering rant except that you dislike software people and senior people? If so, please summarize it in coherent English. Thanks.
Sponsored research is not automatically bad.... there are a number of areas where interest is not widespread beyond the industry players in that industry, so they are the only ones who will foot the bill.
Sure, sort of like the IT industry, where the only *studies* done are done at the behest of the ITAA. Surprisingly, every study *released* says exactly what the industry wants Congress to hear. These are the same studies that claimed the US faced a huge shortage of IT workers while they were being laid off enmasse.
What is really proper, is to demand that all surveys 1) release the entire raw data set, 2) release the entire question sample, and 3) all other information so it can be replicated and peer reviewed.
Studies done for the ITAA generally only have corporate executives as respondents, and the CxOs know which side of their bread is buttered. Ask them the same questions again, and you'll get the same canned answers. You really need to consider the people being surveyed.
The better test to detect bogus research, is not to ask who paid for it, but to ask if they are complying with the above criteria.
Any *published* study done by/for industry is going to say exactly what they want, otherwise it will never see the light of day. A better test to detect bogus research would be to ask industry if they have any studies that have not been published - but then you'd have to trust their honesty.
WTF would the USPTO's THINKING have to do with it? The Director of the USPTO isn't some wizard in a throne room declaring what is and is not patentable. The USPTO does what Congress and Judges say. Period.
Congress didn't have anything to do with software patents, and the courts had very little to do with it. The SCOTUS decided that genetically engineered products were patentable. From that, somehow the USPTO decided that software was also patentable. There is a fairly short summary here
Re:Other IT Myths
on
IT Myths
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
However, often it is also the case that "senior" engineers sitting on high salaries have no incentive to try hard or achieve more. They just sit there.
Yes, there is often deadweight in the senior engineering positions, but line management has no idea who it is. The best bullshitters are considered to be the best engineers by MIS-management.
Now, young and inexperienced developers fall into 2 categories: potential, no potential. If you can find the ones with potential, then within a couple of years they'll be producing almost (or more) as much as your beloved senior developers
That's incorrect in a situation that requires institutional memory. I'd guess it would take 3-4 years, by which time training the developer would have negated any supposed cost savings, and the new developer would now be senior and making a much larger salary. OJT by MIS-management.
I generalize, of course, but I have experience of exactly this situation in a team of developers that I manage. Yes, I said "manage". Get over it. I'm your PHB. Kneel before me!!!!
You've already demonstrated your MIS-conception of the issue - no need to overdo it.
I was really fortunate to be able to hire some extremely qualified staff in the last few years.
Each of them have brought insights which can only be gained through time.
I am happy to hear that. Really. Many good people are simply being discarded when they have much to offer.
You see, we're a Gov't tech shop.
Well, I currently work for a government contractor. Different motives for different folks, I guess.
Slashdot Mirror
the ec is a joke, popular vote isnt skewed, its exactly as its labeled...and should be taken as such.
The Electoral College does exactly what it was intended to do, which is protect states' rights. Each state can assign its electors in the manner of their choosing, most assigning them as winner take all. The name of the country is the United States of America, not the Democracy of America. If you want to change it from a republic to a democracy, then get out and campaign for it.
So when you remove all the hot air, you admit that you were wrong to blame it on the "right wing." Thanks for clearing it up.
When a serial killer is caught, they should be incarcerated and every attempt should be made, in good faith, to help them deal with what's inside of them.
When a serial killer has applied for a Darwin award, they should be rewarded. That is the point of the social compact, our society, and our laws. Remove the aberrations from the gene pool.
That actually is a good point and in fact if you think about it, the laws the government makes is *based* off revenge. You speed in your car, you get a ticket and pay a fine. You murder someone, you get the death penalty or life in prison. While this is meant to control the masses and such it is basically the governments "revenge" on that person's wrong doing.
I disagree. Laws and government are based on a social contract and are about retribution and compensation. Revenge, on the other hand, is very personal and is a dish best served cold for the ultimate satisfaction. (Attributions to Kahn and many others before.) Revenge is something to be savored at length, as much in the planning as in the doing and the end result; the clerk at the counter doesn't give a hoot about your speeding fine or gain any satisfaction from it. Not that I would have any personal knowledge about revenge or stuff like that.
You're telling me a judge actually went out and said, nah, that recount thing is old fashioned, we don't really need it?
No, the person in charge of Florida's elections and protecting the rights of voters said that recounting was not needed. The judge said that Glenda Hood was full of it and did not have the authority to change state laws. So, at least for once, the Florida courts have managed to produce a sane ruling.
Everything would be on one continuous numbered roll. With each vote accounted for in the same manner as those numbered voting slips they give us now.
The point of verification is to allow the voter to cancel. You don't want a continuous roll. One system that has been demonstrated prints and displays a sheet for each voter which can be accepted or rejected. If accepted, it goes in the ballot box, otherwise it's shredded, and the voter tries again.
Why would it be so damn hard for the e-voting machines to print out a receipt after a person votes - a receipt that is retained by the states? The whole point of e-voting is ease of use - maybe even cheaper deployment. But why would it be so hard to implement such a system...or is it all politics & big business?
It isn't hard to implement. Sample systems have been demonstrated. And yes, it's all about big business making billions of dollars from ill-considered legislation following the 2000 election.
The companies that make the E-voting machines have a vested interest in making everyone believe the machines are infallible, which they are not. The companies have formed an association and hired Harris Miller of the ITAA, who will say anything for a dollar. He's been doing it too, claiming that anyone who doesn't trust the machines is just an open source commie out to hurt the poor little companies that make the wonderful voting machines. I'm sure that guy has someone else shave him because there is no way he could ever face himself in a mirror.
The point is simple, you either trust the system to work properly or you don't.
Sure it's simple. I don't trust the black-box voting machines. How many problems have to be reported before people finally realize these machines are not perfect? The paper trail means there is a fallback position when things go wrong.
Just look at the farce that happened in 2000 with Bush in Florida.
As I pointed out in a comment above, the Diebold machines in one Florida county returned a negative number for one candidate during that election.
If the correct count is close (i.e. a human would be likely to get it wrong), then we bring in the humans to add error. So yeah, stealing the election...but not by the machines.
During the 2000 election, the Diebold machines in Florida's Volusia County returned negative 16,022 votes for one candidate. Obviously those infallible machines were right, and we wouldn't want to introduce human error by having a recount.
Yay. Capitalism
Hey, I see your point but it really doesn't have much to do with capitalism, since it isn't practiced in the U.S. If it were, Carly would be selling on a street corner instead of chopping heads in a boardroom (not that I'd buy any). What we have is a government and corporate oligarchy controlled by monied interests and the best legislature that money can buy.
Or, they hire cooks, maids, drivers.
Geez. I've been writing code and schematics for decades, and I don't have any of those things. I'm thinking someone has been severely shorting my paycheck.
Why is it ok to import sneakers and t-shirts from cheap Phillipine workers and importing "office jobs" is not?
It has never been "ok" in any case. The exportation of jobs has been fought at every new turn. In every case, the American workers have lost for the benefit of corporate management. CEO compensation for large companies in the 50's averaged about six times the wage of the average worker. Now the average compensation for a CEO in a large company is over $9 million. For IT companies, compensation over $20 million is commonplace. We now have CEOs making a thousand times the average worker's salary for getting rid of the workers who are the company.
During every new exportation of jobs, the corporate refrain has been, "You peons should retrain for better jobs." Well, now there are no "better" jobs to retrain for, and the peons know it.
It's frustrating enough having to deal with a dumbass who knows less about resolving problems than you, but when you can't understand each other, it's like being in the 8th circle of Hell.
What's worse is calling tech support, and "Roy Bob" answers saying, "Hi Y'all, how am I being of service?" with an unidentifiable but possibly Texan accent. It can only go downhill from there.
The problem is that #1 is not always true. That's when you really need a plumber, and generally at weekend rates.
An interesting post. I can't figure out if it's insightful but short-sighted or a subtle troll.
Verbal duels are really only possible in a society where there's enough equality to provide for people to walk away with a measure of respect. The savage inequality in America, wrought by the right wing and deepening since the 1980s, doesn't permit that.
The "savage" inequality in America seems relatively benign compared to the inequality during the 1800's. Admittedly the gap does seem to be widening again, but why is that "wrought by the right wing" when both wings are corporate puppets? Since you mention outsourcing, you do realize that Hillary Clinton is a major supporter of Tata and outsourcing New York jobs, don't you? She's hardly "right wing".
You see, assault is a crime. Saying something another does not like is not a crime. Even stupid people understand this.
It depends on what you say; there is a term called "fighting words" that judges understand. Cross that line, and the judge won't be overly concerned by your missing teeth. If your statements are considered verbal abuse, that can also get you into trouble.
If they're determine I can scrap when I need to...and it's self defense so you can get dirty.
There are many things you can't do in self-defense. You can't shoot someone for punching you. You can't use your feet. If you're trained in any form of fighting, you had better not hit back at all - you'd better run if you don't want to end up in prison paying reparation.
The law is there to keep assholes who can't use their words in check.
There is also law that keeps people who can't control their words in check. IMHO, it might be better to simply remain polite and civil, whether it be in public or on Slashdot.
Thanks!
[Farscape jumped the shark] when Scorpius joined the crew.
He didn't exactly "join" the crew, unless you think that being kept in confinement or under supervision is *joining*. It was a matter of mutual survival with a number of sub-plots. The one involving Jool was probably a red herring, but we never got to find out. Strange alliances are Farscape's forte. Scorpius was still after John's knowledge, and John knew it, which led to the whole sniffing-drugs-to-forget-Aeryn thing (pause for a breath) because John knew Scorpius would use Aeryn and their baby-to-be as leverage against them.
There were some strange episodes, but it was the most innovative SciFi on TV - if you didn't keep up, you got lost. Farscape didn't try to tell stories that could only fit into an hour, nor did it waste a half hour bringing you up to speed every episode. I found it continually interesting and enjoyable, and I haven't paid any attention to the Horror (SciFi) Channel since they dropped it.
In defense of Word, the "track changes" feature is very handy for having someone else proofread/edit your documents.
Yes, it's also great for those internal MS Halloween documents that get leaked. Nothing like being bitten by your own dog food (to mangle a couple of old cliches).
Was there a point to that uninformed, meandering rant except that you dislike software people and senior people? If so, please summarize it in coherent English. Thanks.
Sponsored research is not automatically bad.... there are a number of areas where interest is not widespread beyond the industry players in that industry, so they are the only ones who will foot the bill.
Sure, sort of like the IT industry, where the only *studies* done are done at the behest of the ITAA. Surprisingly, every study *released* says exactly what the industry wants Congress to hear. These are the same studies that claimed the US faced a huge shortage of IT workers while they were being laid off enmasse.
What is really proper, is to demand that all surveys 1) release the entire raw data set, 2) release the entire question sample, and 3) all other information so it can be replicated and peer reviewed.
Studies done for the ITAA generally only have corporate executives as respondents, and the CxOs know which side of their bread is buttered. Ask them the same questions again, and you'll get the same canned answers. You really need to consider the people being surveyed.
The better test to detect bogus research, is not to ask who paid for it, but to ask if they are complying with the above criteria.
Any *published* study done by/for industry is going to say exactly what they want, otherwise it will never see the light of day. A better test to detect bogus research would be to ask industry if they have any studies that have not been published - but then you'd have to trust their honesty.
Don't worry, poor taste is not a punishable offense. :)
WTF would the USPTO's THINKING have to do with it? The Director of the USPTO isn't some wizard in a throne room declaring what is and is not patentable. The USPTO does what Congress and Judges say. Period.
Congress didn't have anything to do with software patents, and the courts had very little to do with it. The SCOTUS decided that genetically engineered products were patentable. From that, somehow the USPTO decided that software was also patentable. There is a fairly short summary here
However, often it is also the case that "senior" engineers sitting on high salaries have no incentive to try hard or achieve more. They just sit there.
Yes, there is often deadweight in the senior engineering positions, but line management has no idea who it is. The best bullshitters are considered to be the best engineers by MIS-management.
Now, young and inexperienced developers fall into 2 categories: potential, no potential. If you can find the ones with potential, then within a couple of years they'll be producing almost (or more) as much as your beloved senior developers
That's incorrect in a situation that requires institutional memory. I'd guess it would take 3-4 years, by which time training the developer would have negated any supposed cost savings, and the new developer would now be senior and making a much larger salary. OJT by MIS-management.
I generalize, of course, but I have experience of exactly this situation in a team of developers that I manage. Yes, I said "manage". Get over it. I'm your PHB. Kneel before me!!!!
You've already demonstrated your MIS-conception of the issue - no need to overdo it.
I was really fortunate to be able to hire some extremely qualified staff in the last few years. Each of them have brought insights which can only be gained through time.
I am happy to hear that. Really. Many good people are simply being discarded when they have much to offer.
You see, we're a Gov't tech shop.
Well, I currently work for a government contractor. Different motives for different folks, I guess.