You'll also notice that people will fake having a hobby if it will help their image, like wannabe executives who try to learn to play golf just to get in good with the boss, and politicians who go on a staged hunt to prove to the voters that they are rugged outdoorsy types.
Sometimes just not liking golf can kill your career just as much as enjoying various unsavory hobbies.
Let's see if this fits with your image of the U.S.--hospitals never refuse treatment to anyone.
That's not quite true.
Emergency hospitals can't refuse to treat you if you are critical. This means that if you are in immediate danger of dying, they have to make you "stable". This means that you are no longer in immediate danger of dying.
Now, if you have a serious illness or injury, but you are not in immediate danger of dying, then they can kick your ass out into the street. Or, they can charge you hundreds of dollars for a bandage (check your bill next time you go to the hospital). This means that a lot of people will not go to the hospital until their problem becomes really bad, which means it will be much more expensive to treat, when a shot of penicillin early on might have cleared the whole thing up.
This is one of the big reasons that health care in the US is so expensive - cheaper preventative care is skipped because the poor can't afford it, and won't be able to pay the very large bills that come when the problem becomes impossible to ignore. These costs get passed on to you.
There are two solutions to this problem - simply paying for the cheaper preventative treatment for the poor out of public funds, or allowing emergency rooms to kick anyone they want out, resulting in the avoidable deaths of a great many people (very few people want this).
Of course, the health insurance companies benefit the most from the current setup, so they want things to stay the same. But the rest of us would be far better off if we just paid for all simple treatments out of public funds.
In truth, I often do wonder if the things people say are true, that "Society doesn't want people thinking," or that "the people on top don't want the people down below thinking."
For one, because fucking with genetic sequences can have unforseen results.
The gene that causes sickle cell anemia (a recessive gene) is actually beneficial when the person only has one of the genes - it makes them more resistant to malaria. Similarly with the Tay-Sachs disease and tuberculosis.
And again, some genes do more than one thing. Perhaps a gene that would increase the physical strength of a person would lower their life expectancy by increasing the strain on the heart, or perhaps even affect their mental state and make them uncontrollably violent. We just don't know.
That, and the whole thing with Hitler and the Nazis.
Consider the Beltway sniper attacks. The snipers managed to kill about 10 people and wound others over a period of three weeks. They weren't caught because they were seen firing a gun - they were caught due to police following leads.
Similarly, there was at least one sniper in Iraq who located a group of US soldiers, fired once, and moved. I do not know if he has been caught or not.
My point is, using guns doesn't necessarily mean that you will be caught or even identified, at least for a while. If the assailants are clever enough, they can force the government to start kicking down doors to find them, which will cause the general populace to get upset with them.
When i was in highschool (late '80s), we had to sign a pledge not do drink alcohol or do drugs to participate in football, baseball or any other sports.
I assume that the point of such a pledge was entirely psychological, as minors can cancel any contract they wish, and it's not necessary to sign anything in order to be required to follow the law.
Actually, nowhere in the constitution is the Federal Government granted the right to mandate any sort of requirements on schools. And nowhere is there an exception to the bill of rights given to government schools.
Right. And as soon as someone can convince the Federal Government of that, we'll be all set. As of now, they don't seem to think they law applies to them, and they have all the big guns.
During my job search over the past years, I decided to go to a "job fair" a college was holding for adjunct instructors (really it was just them collecting resumes and transcripts). All they did was verify that I had enough graduate hours in the subject I would be teaching, and they hired me on the spot.
Now, I had never taught before. The most experience I had was some teaching assistant work that I did in college. When it came time for me to teach the class, they gave me the books for the class, the previous instructor's syllabus, and threw me in there with no further training.
I'm pretty sure that they have slightly stricter rules for hiring public school teachers, but that's not saying a lot. If they require little more than that, then it's no wonder public school teachers don't excel in their jobs most of the time.
This needs to be pointed out more often - a market where a small percentage of the population has large and permanent advantages isn't a free market at all.
I do have health insurance. It's expensive, and it was a serious pain to get, but I'm managing with it.
Problem is, insurance companies have been known to do really shady things to keep from paying anything, including terminating your account as soon as you request payment. They can't do that on group policies.
Also the quotes they give you initially? Meaningless. I'm paying nearly $100 more than their initial quote.
All of the above need a union to get them. Once you've got them the union is redundant
Hardly.
You see, companies fought every single one of those improvements every step of the way, and they continue to fight them. Read about the EA Games horror stories? Those are becoming more and more common. So the 40 hour week is under attack. Companies aren't giving health insurance by simply hiring a lot of part time workers. Weekends and holidays - see above. And so forth.
Unions aren't just necessary to get those benefits - they're necessary to keep them, because companies and employers will never stop trying to take them away.
So... you're saying that you should just up and move somewhere else, with no guarantee that there's a job waiting for you, and hope and pray that all the time and money you spent moving will pay off with a job?
That's about the stupidest, riskiest strategy I've ever heard.
Funny you should choose that phrase, "pulling himself up by his bootstraps." I doubt many people know where it comes from.
It comes from the Baron Munchausen, known for telling outlandish stories about himself. For instance he claimed that once when he was stuck in the swamp, he got out by using his great strength to pull himself out. In the stories, he would either grab his own hair or his bootstraps and lift himself out.
You see, doing what you suggest, or "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps", is physically impossible.
Slashdot Mirror
You'll also notice that people will fake having a hobby if it will help their image, like wannabe executives who try to learn to play golf just to get in good with the boss, and politicians who go on a staged hunt to prove to the voters that they are rugged outdoorsy types.
Sometimes just not liking golf can kill your career just as much as enjoying various unsavory hobbies.
Emergency hospitals can't refuse to treat you if you are critical. This means that if you are in immediate danger of dying, they have to make you "stable". This means that you are no longer in immediate danger of dying.
Now, if you have a serious illness or injury, but you are not in immediate danger of dying, then they can kick your ass out into the street. Or, they can charge you hundreds of dollars for a bandage (check your bill next time you go to the hospital). This means that a lot of people will not go to the hospital until their problem becomes really bad, which means it will be much more expensive to treat, when a shot of penicillin early on might have cleared the whole thing up.
This is one of the big reasons that health care in the US is so expensive - cheaper preventative care is skipped because the poor can't afford it, and won't be able to pay the very large bills that come when the problem becomes impossible to ignore. These costs get passed on to you.
There are two solutions to this problem - simply paying for the cheaper preventative treatment for the poor out of public funds, or allowing emergency rooms to kick anyone they want out, resulting in the avoidable deaths of a great many people (very few people want this).
Of course, the health insurance companies benefit the most from the current setup, so they want things to stay the same. But the rest of us would be far better off if we just paid for all simple treatments out of public funds.
Wow.
I bet the first thing you thought when you heard about the employees at Enron getting screwed over was "They had it coming."
Or when elderly people are bilked out of their retirement by conmen.
Sorry, LucasArts only does Star Wars games now.
For one, because fucking with genetic sequences can have unforseen results.
The gene that causes sickle cell anemia (a recessive gene) is actually beneficial when the person only has one of the genes - it makes them more resistant to malaria. Similarly with the Tay-Sachs disease and tuberculosis.
And again, some genes do more than one thing. Perhaps a gene that would increase the physical strength of a person would lower their life expectancy by increasing the strain on the heart, or perhaps even affect their mental state and make them uncontrollably violent. We just don't know.
That, and the whole thing with Hitler and the Nazis.
Consider the Beltway sniper attacks. The snipers managed to kill about 10 people and wound others over a period of three weeks. They weren't caught because they were seen firing a gun - they were caught due to police following leads.
Similarly, there was at least one sniper in Iraq who located a group of US soldiers, fired once, and moved. I do not know if he has been caught or not.
My point is, using guns doesn't necessarily mean that you will be caught or even identified, at least for a while. If the assailants are clever enough, they can force the government to start kicking down doors to find them, which will cause the general populace to get upset with them.
That stuff only matters if you don't have powerful, influential friends.
I assume that the point of such a pledge was entirely psychological, as minors can cancel any contract they wish, and it's not necessary to sign anything in order to be required to follow the law.
I feel I must mention John Taylor Gatto's book The Underground History of American Education again. Available free of charge on the web.
During my job search over the past years, I decided to go to a "job fair" a college was holding for adjunct instructors (really it was just them collecting resumes and transcripts). All they did was verify that I had enough graduate hours in the subject I would be teaching, and they hired me on the spot.
Now, I had never taught before. The most experience I had was some teaching assistant work that I did in college. When it came time for me to teach the class, they gave me the books for the class, the previous instructor's syllabus, and threw me in there with no further training.
I'm pretty sure that they have slightly stricter rules for hiring public school teachers, but that's not saying a lot. If they require little more than that, then it's no wonder public school teachers don't excel in their jobs most of the time.
First Past the Post voting system.
Also, he wasn't referring to the electoral college specifically - that's a different debate.
Meh, then it's not really a free market.
This needs to be pointed out more often - a market where a small percentage of the population has large and permanent advantages isn't a free market at all.
I do have health insurance. It's expensive, and it was a serious pain to get, but I'm managing with it.
Problem is, insurance companies have been known to do really shady things to keep from paying anything, including terminating your account as soon as you request payment. They can't do that on group policies.
Also the quotes they give you initially? Meaningless. I'm paying nearly $100 more than their initial quote.
Two more words:
Ruby Ridge.
Though there are plenty of other examples.
One word:
Diebold.
You're in the minority.
The rest are still living the good life and getting plenty of respect, because people respect success, however it is obtained.
You see, companies fought every single one of those improvements every step of the way, and they continue to fight them. Read about the EA Games horror stories? Those are becoming more and more common. So the 40 hour week is under attack. Companies aren't giving health insurance by simply hiring a lot of part time workers. Weekends and holidays - see above. And so forth.
Unions aren't just necessary to get those benefits - they're necessary to keep them, because companies and employers will never stop trying to take them away.
So... you're saying that you should just up and move somewhere else, with no guarantee that there's a job waiting for you, and hope and pray that all the time and money you spent moving will pay off with a job?
That's about the stupidest, riskiest strategy I've ever heard.
Funny you should choose that phrase, "pulling himself up by his bootstraps." I doubt many people know where it comes from.
It comes from the Baron Munchausen, known for telling outlandish stories about himself. For instance he claimed that once when he was stuck in the swamp, he got out by using his great strength to pull himself out. In the stories, he would either grab his own hair or his bootstraps and lift himself out.
You see, doing what you suggest, or "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps", is physically impossible.
I'm wondering why every single network node in India isn't under a permanent dDoS attack.
I mean, a large number of tech savvy people losing their jobs, and knowing that they went to India? Seems like that's exactly what would happen.
Better yet, don't get married. Way too risky under the current legal structure.