How much money would I need to defeat the army of lawyers Cisco could hire and how many years of litigation would drag on before the contract was thrown out? Whether it's illegal or not doesn't mean shit if you can't afford to defeat it.
But, that's one hell of a lot easier said than done. As a worker the strength of your negotiations is dependent upon something you have no control over, the job market. Any skill that's in great demand will attract others to it so you can't expect to negotiate from strength because you have a "rare skill in great demand." That's at best only a temporary advantage.
Face it, workers always have and always will negotiate from a position of weakness. The only exception to that is when there are unions.
I too talked with a lawyer about such contracts and he also confirmed what the parent post stated. Although he was much more cynical in his presentation.
"Your employer can fire you for good reasons, or no good reasons. He can be stupid, he can be cutting his nose off to spite his face, he can be unfair, he can fire you because today is Teusday and the sky is blue (think Drew Carey's manager on the Drew Carey show)."
"As long as your not fired because of race, gender, religious persuasion, veteran status or (in some very limited areas) sexual orientation then your employer in at-will states can fire you for any reason or no reason at all."
That's the beauty of these modern day yellow dog contracts. IT workers are typically either libertarians/objectivists or hyper-conservatives who would rather set their faces on fire and put it out with a fork than join a union.
Management realizes this and so freely puts such clauses in their contracts. I know because there was just such a clause in my contract when I started working at Cisco Systems.
When I got laid off I signed another contract for the severance package I received and it too had the exact same prohibition against enticing co-workers into quiting.
A large radio station might put out 50 K Watt at frequencies much lower than a cell phone
Fifty Kilowatts? Are you nuts? Try 50 Megawatts, that's the broadcasting strength of just one of the local radio stations. Oh, and even though the radio station is broadcasting at a lower frequency, TV stations are not. I find it exceedingly odd, and a bit convenient, that avionic are only disrupted at cell phone frequencies.
Also, your cell phone is much much closer to the aircraft avionics.
The strength of radio waves falls off with the inverse square of the distance.
My cell phone is maybe putting out.5 watts, maximum. The radio and TV broadcasters are putting out millions of watts. Sorry, but to fall to the same wattage that the cell phone is putting out at 30 centimeters the plane would have to be flying more than 3 kilometers away. I know for a fact that there are five megawatt broadcast towers (three radio and two TV) less than two kilometers from my home town's airport. Again, why aren't the planes dropping out of the sky?
Seriously. Even in this crappy economy, you can always get a job (waiting tables, manual labor, etc.) that will cover rent/mortgage and food. It might not be what you want to do, and your quality of life may decrease temporarily, but it can cover until you find a better job.
Unfortunately that's not true at all because the employers for those jobs (waiting tables, manual labor, etc.) will take one look at your resume and laugh in your face. Why? Because they know that anyone who used to work at some high tech company making six figures isn't going to stay one second at a low paying job if another opportunity presents itself.
I know because I worked at Cisco Systems and have been turned down for several lower paying jobs for exactly that reason (I called to find out why I didn't get the job and they told me).
An important thing to realise about targeted ads is that the number of ads won't change - you won't be suddenly blitzed with many more ads. The difference is that the ads you'll see will more frequently be relevant to you.
Less dross. More stuff you're interested in. Sounds good?
Nope, sounds horrible. How's this, how about no advertising? I'm sick to death of commercials being shoved into my face everywhere I turn. I can make a decision about what the fuck I want without the damn saturation bombing of commercial advertising.
The use of non printing characters as syntax elements is ridiculous
on the face of it.
Which shows the depth of your thinking on the subject. I think using Python to teach programming is a GREAT idea. Using Python and Eiffel in teaching might instill some sense into larval programmers that they AREN'T CODING ONLY FOR THEMSELVES WHEN THEY GET INTO THE REAL WORD!
Sorry, I lost it there for a minute but as someone who's spent nearly a decade having to mantain and upgrade code written by others I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to coding practices (or the lack thereof). You know it might also help to have students debug and mantain/enhance last years students' code. MMHAHAHAHA!!!! That would be PERFECT revenge!
Anyway, for all those people who replied that their bank supports non-MSIE browsers I have to say, they do now, but your days are probably numbered.
Supported, that is, until some "brilliant" bean-counter comes along and takes a look at the IT budget s/he's going to comment, "Why are we paying salaries to support browsers that only comprise 10% of our hits combined?"
Then, THHWWAAKKK! the tech support people for the "odd-ball" browsers get cut from the staff and the "brilliant" bean-counter gets a promotion and a raise that more than the combined salaries of the jobs s/he cut!
Am I coming across as a little cynical? Perhaps, but so far it's the way the world seems to work.
I don't want to come across as flaming, because mostly I agree with what the parent post is stating, BUT (and it's a big one)... I bet that the, "MD who pays $420 a year for JAMA, discounted medical supplies, and a free web page" probably agrees with the whole AMA platform. S/he certainly doesn't disagree enough to attemp any policy changes, that's for sure.
In any case I'm not so sure that the culpability of your average AMA member is so clear cut, especially since they financially benefit from the current policies. In fact I think you might be hard pressed to find a member who doesn't whole heartedly support what the AMA is doing.
It's gotta be breeder reactors being roped and branded by plutonium swallowing alpha geeks flexing their intellectual muscles at the camera amid the towering, cracklin' Van deGraf generators in the ol' West country. Then these mighty Slash Dotties can sit back after a hard day's work and knock back a few cases a Jolt whilst simultaneously playing Doom III, coding Linux apps of 'shock and awe' in opcode (anything else is syntactic sugar!), and downloading advance copies of "The Matrix: Revolution" on their super-duper, deluxe 10,000 terrahertz PVI (with the built-in AI) PCs!!!
Otherwise America looses to the terrorist loving, raise-taxes-and-spend-it-on-something-useless-like -people, technology hating, creation science fondling, liberal, commie, homo luddites!!!!
It's not like it was from Fox News or some other unbiased news source.
This post and the majority of others like it are pretty much a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Each of the pro-nuke postings only pay attention to news sources that support their biases. So my question is, why do you, and they, think they're "unbiased"?
Um, because they think, probably for good reason, that they're next to be "liberated" by George W(armonger) Bush? Oh, and the obligatory Tom Lehrer lyrics:
First we got the Bomb and that was good
'Cause we love peace and motherhood
Then Russia got the Bomb, but that's O.K.
'Cause the balance of power is mantained that way
Who's next?
France got the bomb
But don't you grieve
They're on our side, I believe...
Red China got the Bomb
But don't you fear
'Cause they can't wipe us out for at least five years!
Who's next?
Egypt gonna get one too
Just to use on you-know-who
So Israel's getting tense
Wants one in self-defense
The Lord's our shepard says the psalm
But just in case
We better get the Bomb
Who's next?
Indonesia's next to go and who knows maybe Monaco
We'll try to stay serene and calm
When Alabama gets the bomb!
Who's next?
Who's next?
Who's next?
Who's next!
Slashdot Mirror
How much money would I need to defeat the army of lawyers Cisco could hire and how many years of litigation would drag on before the contract was thrown out? Whether it's illegal or not doesn't mean shit if you can't afford to defeat it.
Your post made me laugh so hard I peed my pants.
Nope, apparently he didn't think the benefits were worth commeting about. And my experience has confirmed that.
Face it, workers always have and always will negotiate from a position of weakness. The only exception to that is when there are unions.
This is Slashdot, bashing Microsoft is always on topic. :-)
Management realizes this and so freely puts such clauses in their contracts. I know because there was just such a clause in my contract when I started working at Cisco Systems.
When I got laid off I signed another contract for the severance package I received and it too had the exact same prohibition against enticing co-workers into quiting.
The squeaky wheel gets replaced, by some contractor from Romania
Love and kisses,
The Management
P.S., Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!
I know because I worked at Cisco Systems and have been turned down for several lower paying jobs for exactly that reason (I called to find out why I didn't get the job and they told me).
If cell phones cause so much disruption then why the hell aren't planes dropping out of the sky whenever they pass by a megawatt transmission tower?
Sorry, I lost it there for a minute but as someone who's spent nearly a decade having to mantain and upgrade code written by others I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to coding practices (or the lack thereof). You know it might also help to have students debug and mantain/enhance last years students' code. MMHAHAHAHA!!!! That would be PERFECT revenge!
d00dz! cH3kk 1t 0Ut!!!
Anyway, for all those people who replied that their bank supports non-MSIE browsers I have to say, they do now, but your days are probably numbered.
Supported, that is, until some "brilliant" bean-counter comes along and takes a look at the IT budget s/he's going to comment, "Why are we paying salaries to support browsers that only comprise 10% of our hits combined?"
Then, THHWWAAKKK! the tech support people for the "odd-ball" browsers get cut from the staff and the "brilliant" bean-counter gets a promotion and a raise that more than the combined salaries of the jobs s/he cut!
Am I coming across as a little cynical? Perhaps, but so far it's the way the world seems to work.
I don't want to come across as flaming, because mostly I agree with what the parent post is stating, BUT (and it's a big one)...
I bet that the, "MD who pays $420 a year for JAMA, discounted medical supplies, and a free web page" probably agrees with the whole AMA platform. S/he certainly doesn't disagree enough to attemp any policy changes, that's for sure.
In any case I'm not so sure that the culpability of your average AMA member is so clear cut, especially since they financially benefit from the current policies. In fact I think you might be hard pressed to find a member who doesn't whole heartedly support what the AMA is doing.
is a non sequitur. The AMA consists of doctors so yeah, I'm going to blame doctors!
Otherwise America looses to the terrorist loving, raise-taxes-and-spend-it-on-something-useless-like -people, technology hating, creation science fondling, liberal, commie, homo luddites!!!!
This post and the majority of others like it are pretty much a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Each of the pro-nuke postings only pay attention to news sources that support their biases. So my question is, why do you, and they, think they're "unbiased"?
Oh, and the obligatory Tom Lehrer lyrics:
Herd.
Heard of what?
Herd of cows.
'Course I've heard of cows.
No, no, no, cow herd.
What the hell do I care what a cow heard?
LOL! I guess I'm not the only one that thought their trademark looked like the Evil Mouse(R)!