An alcoholic might tell you that he does not drink alcohol, but that does not make it the truth.
Similarly, authors can easily be ignorant of the psychological/exisitential dilemmas in their own head. Tolkien is not an exception because he said so.
What makes great authors (like Tolkein) great is that they can infuse their work with intracate layers of meaning, without consciously being aware that they are doing so. Once you start doing it on purpose.....well, then you get modern-day Barnes & Noble fodder. (Incidentally, your cited classwork is a good example of this: you planned to write an empty piece before you even put pen to paper.)
Yes, everything has to be completely safe, and medical professionals are the highest trained in the world. But the only people who would deny the outrageous gouging that the medical industry is allowed (if indrectly) to do are the same people who believe that free market capitalism works.
Someone's life is at stake? Raise prices!
That's the scumbag side of supply and demand for you.
You forgot about your Nikes. They cost so much money because they pay the foreign workers very well. Those young kids are going to college now thanks to you!
And that's why it works. State legislators are usually reasonable, accessible, folks. They get paid the way jurors get "paid" -- the net effect is that they are much more in touch with real people and their concerns.
They like monkey-business as much as the next politician, generally speaking, but at least they regard the individual consitituent as something powerful enough to listen to...
Nothing like selfish parents to fuck up their kid's life. Can't bear the thought of their Little Girl discarding the (presumably) upper middle-class existence that they worked so hard to obtain.
As mentioned above, that kind of money-is-all attitude is one of the most tedious aspects of our American psychology.
Maybe your nephew wants more out of life than a "career track?" The mind can actually be taught to do far more useful things than generate revenue. Step back from your coding a little bit, get some persepective on life. Maybe TAKE a philosophy class or two.
Okay, maybe not half. But learning algorythyms (sp?) will only help the most hard-core system or network administrator. I think it is quite idiotic for companies to demand degrees that barely relate to the job in question. Why don't we start requiring athletes to complete physics degrees before going pro? Their profession DEPENDS on physics, after all.
All this accomplishes is making it harder for focused (i.e. self-directed) learners to get into positions where their expertise would be valued.
Maybe your friend should get out of CS and take a IS (*snort*) degree if available. Failing that....get a technician's job if he can find one that doesn't require a degree. That way, he''ll be able be around what he -really- loves: computers, not code.
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Re:Slam his customers
on
I, Spammer
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
From what I've seen, the products offered through spam come from the finest snake-oil salesmen that the world has to offer. Pretty much all an outrageous rip-off, if not an outright con. These businesses could probably be persecuted for other violations without even legislating spam, if some law enforcement types went over them with a fine-tooth comb.....
Now -that- would be slamming the customers. p.------------
I beg to differ. The defacto trainiee is the Help Desk technician and the desktop technician. People who are beginning to know the fundamentals of computer/information systems. Many organizations will not even let IT/MIS staff log onto a server until they have demonstrated responsibile, intelligent actions. No one is going to allow trainees to operate production servers.
Now the junior admin is still necessary, but the "junior" is something of a misnomer; The job is hardly entry-level now. Another factor: the job pool is still overflowing with the gold-digging inept. So many untechnical (at heart) people are masquarading as IT workers, that it becomes necessary to offer more money simply to attract a level of competence.
Or these are just clever rationalizations. Funny, you speak of paltry living wages as a positive thing. You see, the corporate people on top of the pyramid will still be making "New York wages" while the techies join the rest of the wage slaves making "Missouri wages." So yes, the companies cannot afford to employ everyone at exaggerated salary levels: in the future, the executives will simply make certain to keep it only for themselves. This suspicion will always make me advocate higher wages for skilled labor.
If desktop technicians command $45-55K, why shouldn't junior admins make 5-10K more? Granted, these are New York City prices -- but $50,000 is rediculously low for a skilled, experienced professional! Seriously.
Are you telling me that a year's worth of work from your two hands and one mind is only worth that much? Sounds like poor self-esteem to me. You are worth what you think you are, I guess.
usually in favor of fake "people" (corporations) [snip]
Quite the disasterous ruling that was. Seeing as the American government was designed for responsiveness to weath and power -- this was a tremendous step forward at the time, mind you -- the corporation absolutely trashes the equation. It is absurd for us to compete with immortal, resource-full metacitizens for the attention of our government. We can prevail against them, but it takes constant, heroic, unrelenting, effort. We all do need to go work for these meta-citizens, too. Ironic.
Can someone get around to designing the next version of the government kernel already?
It is only in America that you would need to buy 10 bags of groceries at once. Most of the non-urban country works on a hub system, where people come in from the surrounding area and buy enormous amounts of food to store at home. In compressed environments like Manhattan, and places like Europe, buying food is more of a semi-daily routine. The stores are usually within walking distance of the apartment; small markets appear with fractal precision from block to block.
The sprawling developments of modern, car-driven America have led to this rather ineffecient impasse. Business models like Wal-Mart's only make it worse, especially for still-developing rural areas where other kinds of development are choked off.
It's unfortunate; the problem lies at such a fundamental level of society, so it's unlikely to be fixed anytime soon.
Cars are alienating. If you ever visit the outer boroughs of NYC, drive off of the expressways into the "neighborhoods" they rolled over/under; once vibrant communities are now little more than sooty, high-density wastelands. People do not want to run across six lanes of traffic at a stop light, and they do not want to walk a pedestrian bridge over 100 yards of concrete, metal, and hideous fumes.
Cars, like copper phone lines, were at one point a necessary infrastructure for the US. But I think it's time to start thinking of alternatives -- I mean is it worth fighting wars over?
The "ease of use" they are looking for is not the same "ease of use" that a Thai peasant using a P-166 (32 megs of ram, lets say) would be looking for. Linux companies (who want money) are looking to capture postindustrial office workers and particularly stupid consumers. So they are not really the best example for this case.
And by geek volunteers, do you mean the young, idealist sort? Or the older, wiser, professional, and still idealist sort? The GeekCorps website stresses that it generally declines volunteers who do not have at least 3 to 4 years of work experience under their belt. Idealism does not build irrigation systems, nor does it build efficient information systems. Unfortunately, it takes alot of idealism to work so hard for so little physical reward....it is hard to keep that alive inside of you once you are skilled enough to really make a difference.
But in a more technical sense, much more can be accomplished by using stolid, unixy tools over guiy, themeable tools. Shells scripts and ncurses menus, written in the local tongue (if possible), with simple editors like nano, and browsers like lynx, will not be able to WYSIWYG or play flash, but it will transmit and store information, and probably never, ever, break.
Sure, your tech grunts can do clever things with remote controls, cron jobs, and the like, but it is upper corporate class who salivate over Blackberrys, get slick Centrino laptops, and as the article mentions, have secretaries who actually do the tedious, time-consuming work for them.
These same alpha types will always be contempuous of the mere technology worker, irregardless of how much of a mental slave he is willing to be. They do not like it when the servant classes weild any kind of power.
That's exactly why talented linux geeks should volunteer. Using the feedback you just provided, I would have to say that greater emphasis needs to be placed on reliability and fool-proofing; perhaps an ISO distro or one-click restore CD would help. Or why not scout around for a native would-be-geek, and initiate them, exclusively, in the higher realms of technology? Let them be the bridge between your knowledge and the local mindset.
I could put a group of my co-workers in linux training for two weeks, and get the same result. Linux requires much more forethought/design than a Microsoft system; the only solution to this problem is for more talented, detail-oriented people to get involved, and work kinks like this out.
It's a tough call to make, whether www access is that helpful to people in the third world, who may not even have the necessary reading skills (language skills, too) to utilize the information they find.
When dealing with populations, its best to think in percentages. Even lowly Chad has a few (okay, very few) people that could benefit from reading the news on the net; in poor countries you are simply missing the middle classes. Let's say 97% of the country is abjectly poor -- the other 3% can still be a sizeable amount of people. So there will always be benefit.
...and they won't need to buy Microsoft products later on.
Something like this fits perfectly with Linux/OS philosophy. If technicically-minded people in developing nations can be shown how to run modern, full-featured computers/networks with the older hardware available to them, you remove the need for pricey (probably American) consultants, newer, expensive hardware, and newer, license-laden, expensive software.
Basically, I believe that developing nations deserve to get on their own two feet without tithing a percentage of their resources to American technology firms. Yes, I am an American. And yes, I will be volunteering in the future.
As a Geek (capital G, mind you), you should be aware of Snow Crash (cyberspace), The Diamond Age (nanotechnology), and the Cryptonomicon (cryptography/privacy/freedom).
IMHO one of the few authors bothering (or able) to extrapolate cutting edge technology and concepts.
I know of more than a few NYC companies who changed their physical security (access, inspection) procedures to correlate to the ever-so-helpful color alerts. Employees get to have their belongs searched in the off chance that terrorists will want to strike an anonymous building (not even tall). The CEOs have the gall to think that they are important enough to target; security firms of all sorts are stepping up with toys to confirm that fantasy. Millions are being wasted, and employees get to be further humiliated on private property.
It strikes me that many companies prefer to skimp on payrolls when it comes to technicans. Since 75% of the fixing is drudery (mice, printers, moving equipment, and so forth), why spend all those extra dollars per hour on expertise that might get used, once?
Dear god -- the Virtual Light trilogy? Well that explains why he kept carrying that damn theme from book to book. Maybe it was brilliant -- I could not get over the fact that the namesake novel had too much ripped from Snow Crash (i.e. badass messenger saves the world) to actually enjoy it.
Gibson was a pioneer, a trailblazer. I like him just enough to not call him a one-hit-wonder, but that's kinda how it's turned out.
Oh I agree. But he starting losing it after he wrote Neuromancer; even as the series progressed it became weaker. Or maybe that first was just unprecedented?
No arguement on ATP -- the only reason it was published is Gibson's name. IMHO.
The community supports these martyrs so quickly that the terror is blunted: "If it happens to me, at least I'm not on my own." This might encourage the next targets to stand for a trial, or attract enough attention for some high-profile legal funds to step in. The RIAA cannot turn this into a revenue stream. They have a brief window of time before case law starts getting written, and decisions get made.
Incidentally -- are Mike Hawash's friends and supporters all terrorist sympathizers? There is a legal fund for him.....perhaps contributors should be held in suspicion as well?
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Similarly, authors can easily be ignorant of the psychological/exisitential dilemmas in their own head. Tolkien is not an exception because he said so.
What makes great authors (like Tolkein) great is that they can infuse their work with intracate layers of meaning, without consciously being aware that they are doing so. Once you start doing it on purpose.....well, then you get modern-day Barnes & Noble fodder. (Incidentally, your cited classwork is a good example of this: you planned to write an empty piece before you even put pen to paper.)
Someone's life is at stake? Raise prices!
That's the scumbag side of supply and demand for you.
You forgot about your Nikes. They cost so much money because they pay the foreign workers very well. Those young kids are going to college now thanks to you!
They like monkey-business as much as the next politician, generally speaking, but at least they regard the individual consitituent as something powerful enough to listen to...
As mentioned above, that kind of money-is-all attitude is one of the most tedious aspects of our American psychology.
----------------
Maybe your nephew wants more out of life than a "career track?" The mind can actually be taught to do far more useful things than generate revenue.
Step back from your coding a little bit, get some persepective on life. Maybe TAKE a philosophy class or two.
All this accomplishes is making it harder for focused (i.e. self-directed) learners to get into positions where their expertise would be valued.
Maybe your friend should get out of CS and take a IS (*snort*) degree if available. Failing that....get a technician's job if he can find one that doesn't require a degree. That way, he''ll be able be around what he -really- loves: computers, not code.
-----------------
Now -that- would be slamming the customers. p.------------
Now the junior admin is still necessary, but the "junior" is something of a misnomer; The job is hardly entry-level now. Another factor: the job pool is still overflowing with the gold-digging inept. So many untechnical (at heart) people are masquarading as IT workers, that it becomes necessary to offer more money simply to attract a level of competence.
Or these are just clever rationalizations. Funny, you speak of paltry living wages as a positive thing. You see, the corporate people on top of the pyramid will still be making "New York wages" while the techies join the rest of the wage slaves making "Missouri wages." So yes, the companies cannot afford to employ everyone at exaggerated salary levels: in the future, the executives will simply make certain to keep it only for themselves. This suspicion will always make me advocate higher wages for skilled labor.
Are you telling me that a year's worth of work from your two hands and one mind is only worth that much? Sounds like poor self-esteem to me. You are worth what you think you are, I guess.
Quite the disasterous ruling that was. Seeing as the American government was designed for responsiveness to weath and power -- this was a tremendous step forward at the time, mind you -- the corporation absolutely trashes the equation. It is absurd for us to compete with immortal, resource-full metacitizens for the attention of our government. We can prevail against them, but it takes constant, heroic, unrelenting, effort. We all do need to go work for these meta-citizens, too. Ironic.
Can someone get around to designing the next version of the government kernel already?
-------------------
The sprawling developments of modern, car-driven America have led to this rather ineffecient impasse. Business models like Wal-Mart's only make it worse, especially for still-developing rural areas where other kinds of development are choked off.
It's unfortunate; the problem lies at such a fundamental level of society, so it's unlikely to be fixed anytime soon.
Cars, like copper phone lines, were at one point a necessary infrastructure for the US. But I think it's time to start thinking of alternatives -- I mean is it worth fighting wars over?
And by geek volunteers, do you mean the young, idealist sort? Or the older, wiser, professional, and still idealist sort? The GeekCorps website stresses that it generally declines volunteers who do not have at least 3 to 4 years of work experience under their belt. Idealism does not build irrigation systems, nor does it build efficient information systems. Unfortunately, it takes alot of idealism to work so hard for so little physical reward....it is hard to keep that alive inside of you once you are skilled enough to really make a difference.
But in a more technical sense, much more can be accomplished by using stolid, unixy tools over guiy, themeable tools. Shells scripts and ncurses menus, written in the local tongue (if possible), with simple editors like nano, and browsers like lynx, will not be able to WYSIWYG or play flash, but it will transmit and store information, and probably never, ever, break.
----------------
Sure, your tech grunts can do clever things with remote controls, cron jobs, and the like, but it is upper corporate class who salivate over Blackberrys, get slick Centrino laptops, and as the article mentions, have secretaries who actually do the tedious, time-consuming work for them.
These same alpha types will always be contempuous of the mere technology worker, irregardless of how much of a mental slave he is willing to be. They do not like it when the servant classes weild any kind of power.
-------------------
I could put a group of my co-workers in linux training for two weeks, and get the same result. Linux requires much more forethought/design than a Microsoft system; the only solution to this problem is for more talented, detail-oriented people to get involved, and work kinks like this out.
It's a tough call to make, whether www access is that helpful to people in the third world, who may not even have the necessary reading skills (language skills, too) to utilize the information they find. When dealing with populations, its best to think in percentages. Even lowly Chad has a few (okay, very few) people that could benefit from reading the news on the net; in poor countries you are simply missing the middle classes. Let's say 97% of the country is abjectly poor -- the other 3% can still be a sizeable amount of people. So there will always be benefit.
Developed Nations, Developing Nations. Communists are basically ignored.
Something like this fits perfectly with Linux/OS philosophy. If technicically-minded people in developing nations can be shown how to run modern, full-featured computers/networks with the older hardware available to them, you remove the need for pricey (probably American) consultants, newer, expensive hardware, and newer, license-laden, expensive software.
Basically, I believe that developing nations deserve to get on their own two feet without tithing a percentage of their resources to American technology firms. Yes, I am an American. And yes, I will be volunteering in the future.
IMHO one of the few authors bothering (or able) to extrapolate cutting edge technology and concepts.
-------------
-----------
----------------
Gibson was a pioneer, a trailblazer. I like him just enough to not call him a one-hit-wonder, but that's kinda how it's turned out.
No arguement on ATP -- the only reason it was published is Gibson's name. IMHO.
The community supports these martyrs so quickly that the terror is blunted: "If it happens to me, at least I'm not on my own." This might encourage the next targets to stand for a trial, or attract enough attention for some high-profile legal funds to step in. The RIAA cannot turn this into a revenue stream. They have a brief window of time before case law starts getting written, and decisions get made.
Incidentally -- are Mike Hawash's friends and supporters all terrorist sympathizers? There is a legal fund for him.....perhaps contributors should be held in suspicion as well?
----------