When I took biology in high school, we discussed some scientific ideas that proved not to have scientific merit - for example, spontaneous generation, or the ancient belief that sickness was due to an imbalance of earth, air, fire and water in the body. I think that creationism and other pseudoscience should be taught in science classes to illustrate a point.
But theories like spontaneous generation could be disproved without causing religious and political turmoil. There are a number of people who believe in intelligent design and creationism, and they can make a lot of trouble for any teacher who debunks such ideas in a classroom. Teachers need to know that their school boards will support them in such situations - and it's very possible that the school boards have members who favor those ideas.
It's true that 17-year-olds are considered adults in the eyes of the law (if not elsewhere). And they can prosecute younger children as adults for some serious crimes.
As for this tax, though... it sounds like another freshman politician who's trying to show that he's got some fresh ideas. I suspect that the proposal will get some half-hearted consideration because the goal is a good idea (providing funding for rehabilitation efforts), but ultimately it will fall short when people realize that it's a backhanded way of equating video games and criminality. It will likely make for a few ticker mentions on CNN, adding to our image of hokiness, and then slip away. But this being Wisconsin (largely a conservative state, with the exception of its population centers in Milwaukee and the 'People's Republic of Madison'), it could end up getting a lot of attention for a while.
... though typically the price was a little more after the VAR added in a percent or two for their troubles
We have been a Dell shop for years. We've watched the quality of their support fall, and even ordering equipment can be a chore at times. But it's helpful to have a lot of hardware under one service agreement (the devil you know, etc.) We have been buying odd peripherals and software from a VAR, who recently told us they could process Dell orders for us as well. We were stunned - someone else deals with the paperwork, we get the same stuff - at better prices. Dell lets VARs do this because it helps to make the ordering process more efficient.
I'm not sure if the whole business model is a failure, but Dell's crappy systems sure are.
Play out the following, then have people guess what you represent:
1) Make a lot of promises. Fire up the smoke machine and the confetti cannons. Have everyone give you $20 and sign a paper that they will give you $20 more every year, in perpetuity. Then leave the room without giving them anything.
2) Listen intently while co-workers discuss the problems. While they talk, create an elegant origami sculpture for each of them. Tell them it's exactly what they need. When they ask how to use the origami to solve their problems, tell them to talk amongst themselves, then leave the room.
Then ask them to choose which solution they prefer.
They keep talking about all this information, but data would probably be more accurate. My guess is the actual information created in 2002 amounts to less than 1 kb/person, and that's probably being optimistic amount humanity.
(My contribution to the glut: long-shrift.blogspot.com
A hairdresser is another good example. How many hairdressing appointments can you schedule? Only so many. After that, forget it. Booked up.
People would generally agree that you can only do so many haircuts in a day. But in the IT world, you're often dealing with people who have no idea how long something will take. And usually they will think everything is easy to do - you just need to push the magic buttons, and poof! - it's done.
Education is key. You need to explain to people what it will take to get the task done. The bigger trick may be explaining this to them without their eyes glazing over.
Custom Development should never be sold without maintenance.
Even non-custom development work. In the industry in which I work, the core app for most businesses is a membership management database (everyone calls it 'CRM' now, of course). In our case, the company releases a.0 version every 9 months or so... and we all sit back and wait for the.1 release a month later.
I suppose you could say they get the best of both worlds: the hastily done version gets to market quickly, and since no one goes near the.0 version, it's basically a marketing tool. While the PR folks tout all the new features, the coders fix the bugs and roll out a workable version. This is what our maintenance/license fees are paying for.
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But theories like spontaneous generation could be disproved without causing religious and political turmoil. There are a number of people who believe in intelligent design and creationism, and they can make a lot of trouble for any teacher who debunks such ideas in a classroom. Teachers need to know that their school boards will support them in such situations - and it's very possible that the school boards have members who favor those ideas.
It's true that 17-year-olds are considered adults in the eyes of the law (if not elsewhere). And they can prosecute younger children as adults for some serious crimes.
As for this tax, though... it sounds like another freshman politician who's trying to show that he's got some fresh ideas. I suspect that the proposal will get some half-hearted consideration because the goal is a good idea (providing funding for rehabilitation efforts), but ultimately it will fall short when people realize that it's a backhanded way of equating video games and criminality. It will likely make for a few ticker mentions on CNN, adding to our image of hokiness, and then slip away. But this being Wisconsin (largely a conservative state, with the exception of its population centers in Milwaukee and the 'People's Republic of Madison'), it could end up getting a lot of attention for a while.
(If that's a little too obscure... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownshirt.)
... though typically the price was a little more after the VAR added in a percent or two for their troubles
We have been a Dell shop for years. We've watched the quality of their support fall, and even ordering equipment can be a chore at times. But it's helpful to have a lot of hardware under one service agreement (the devil you know, etc.) We have been buying odd peripherals and software from a VAR, who recently told us they could process Dell orders for us as well. We were stunned - someone else deals with the paperwork, we get the same stuff - at better prices. Dell lets VARs do this because it helps to make the ordering process more efficient.
I'm not sure if the whole business model is a failure, but Dell's crappy systems sure are.
1) Make a lot of promises. Fire up the smoke machine and the confetti cannons. Have everyone give you $20 and sign a paper that they will give you $20 more every year, in perpetuity. Then leave the room without giving them anything.
2) Listen intently while co-workers discuss the problems. While they talk, create an elegant origami sculpture for each of them. Tell them it's exactly what they need. When they ask how to use the origami to solve their problems, tell them to talk amongst themselves, then leave the room.
Then ask them to choose which solution they prefer.
http://www.syracuse.com/corrections/
They keep talking about all this information, but data would probably be more accurate. My guess is the actual information created in 2002 amounts to less than 1 kb/person, and that's probably being optimistic amount humanity.
(My contribution to the glut: long-shrift.blogspot.com
A hairdresser is another good example. How many hairdressing appointments can you schedule? Only so many. After that, forget it. Booked up.
People would generally agree that you can only do so many haircuts in a day. But in the IT world, you're often dealing with people who have no idea how long something will take. And usually they will think everything is easy to do - you just need to push the magic buttons, and poof! - it's done.
Education is key. You need to explain to people what it will take to get the task done. The bigger trick may be explaining this to them without their eyes glazing over.
Custom Development should never be sold without maintenance. .0 version every 9 months or so... and we all sit back and wait for the .1 release a month later. .0 version, it's basically a marketing tool. While the PR folks tout all the new features, the coders fix the bugs and roll out a workable version. This is what our maintenance/license fees are paying for.
Even non-custom development work. In the industry in which I work, the core app for most businesses is a membership management database (everyone calls it 'CRM' now, of course). In our case, the company releases a
I suppose you could say they get the best of both worlds: the hastily done version gets to market quickly, and since no one goes near the