skeptics have questioned whether the device can meet Negroponte's goal of inspiring huge educational gains
Why do skeptics decide? Of what value is the opinion of a skeptic? Why do people listen to skeptics at all? Offer something constructive, or SHUT THE FUCK UP.
"Geez, so why criticize me in public?" Negroponte said.
Good question. Why everyone isn't on this guy's side is beyond me.
Microsoft did not immediately return calls for comment.
Wait, wait. Let me guess. A meeting! Right?!?!
In time, Negroponte expects the $100 laptop to be a misnomer. For one thing, he believes the cost -- which is actually about $135 now and isn't expected to hit $100 until 2008 -- can drop to $50 by 2010 as more and more are produced.
This man should be given a standing ovation everywhere he goes. Anyone who criticizes him should be ashamed of themselves and their companies. This is a worthwhile, workable project, and it should be supported.
are quite possibly the most bitter and narrow-minded person
Because I don't automatically agree that middle management knows best. Everyone's happy as long as people are being fired. Anyone who complains that those people are being treated like dogshit is "bitter and narrow-minded."
The universe was all matter lumped together and exploded.
"Let there be light."
Ahh, the tired old intelligent design theory.
a) Tired? It was invented, what, four months ago?
b) I have no idea what "intelligent design theory" is. I've never studied it or read about it anywhere.
why can't you believe the universe just existed
That question has already been answered. 500 years ago, the most advanced science in the world believed the sun revolved around the Earth. It is supremely arrogant of humanity to believe they have even the remotest understanding of anything at all in this universe.
You keep saying that the layoffs are happening for no reason.
They are. If the seperate companies found those employees to "make them money" (since it seems sooooo important that every single person in the company be shoveling cash into the company account), then there is no reason that those employees can't make the combined companies money.
But management will put zero effort into retaining those people. They'll just throw them out on their asses before the ink dries on the merger paperwork, because firing people is the top priority.
My argument here is that there is a reason
Says management. Management is usually wrong. In fact, management is wrong unless proven otherwise. Fastest way to become a multi-zillionaire is to find out what middle managers think, then do the exact opposite as fast as possible.
Whether the money surfaces to pay them or not
Companies had it before the merger. $25 billion dollars buys a lot of hours. There was no reason for these people to lose their jobs until the companies merged. "Redundant" is another word for "incompetent management." Middle management doesn't want to have to think, so they just fire everyone.
there is still nothing for them to do at Lucent
Says management. See above. See, if there's nothing for employees to do, that's management's fault. Management is responsible. Management is incompetent. Management is wrong. Not the employees.
Middle managers do not have the stones to employ people and bring products to market. Face it.
ProClarity ran out of printer paper earlier today as hundreds of employees hurdled their bearclaws and lattes with newly printed copies of their resumes. Uproarious laughter and golf stories were heard in the offices equipped with doors as pink slips were signed, along with bonus checks and option sell orders. Meanwhile the phones were clogged with exit interview schedules and preliminary arguments with collection agencies.
In other news, the last intact family north of Arizona filed for divorce early today after winning a game show prize for most layoff notices before the Super Bowl. Here's Bob with the weather.
You realize of course, that any example given will simply become the next topic for argument, right? "That's not critical thinking!" I can hear it already.
You've heard the joke no doubt about the flooded neighborhood.
A man is trapped on his house with flood water all around and he prays that God will save him from the rising flood water. A few minutes later a man in a rowboat comes along and says "hey, I can help you get to safety!" and the man on the roof says "no thanks, God will save me." About an hour later, three men in a raft show up and say "come with us we have room for more people!" and the man says "no thanks, I prayed that God would save me and he will." By now, the water is almost up to where the man is waiting. A helicopter flies overhead and a man on the speaker yells "grab the ladder we'll pull you up to the helicopter!" and he yells back "no thanks! God will rescue me!" Minutes later the flood washes the man away.
So the man gets to Heaven and is very angry, so he says to God "I believed you would save me. Why did you let me get washed away by the flood?" and God replies "I sent a rowboat, a raft and a helicopter, what more do you want?":-)
Every successful business hires talented, smart people.
Every business fires talented, smart people.
These people are not you.
Good. I don't have a lying phone-flipping rat fuck asscrack manager, so I don't have to worry about being laid off the week after I sign a mortgage. And I can do the work of ten dockers-wearing air-conditioned fuckwads under budget and under schedule before Corn Flakes. Face it. Donut-stuffing middle management doesn't have the huevos to bring products to market and employ people any more. It's really pretty sad.
Management cares if firing someone will lose them money because... get this... it will lose them money.
No they don't. They don't care if they lose money. They don't care about anything except control. They want controlled slaves. They don't want employees, because that would require responsibility. They want infinite profits at zero risk and they don't want competent employees. The merger story is proof.
Uh, there's no URL for this one, Sparky. It requires people to think.
or are we supposed to just take you at your word?
I don't give a fuck what you do.
If your mindset wasn't of the glass-half-empty variety, you would see that as 95.2% of the working-age population is gainfully employed.
No. I would see that 95.2% of the working-age population is not drawing unemployment benefits. At least read the statistics. It helps a lot.
and then there are jobsworths like you who wonder why they can't keep a job for any length of time.
I don't wonder. I know exactly why. It's because of lying rat fuck bastard phone-flipping blowdried cheat hairpiece unwiped asscracks in middle management who get paid to talk about golf and fire people. They don't have the stones to employ talented smart people and bring products to market. It's not really that complicated.
Wages too low? Maybe, but more likely the work just isn't worth more than that.
Says management.
It might increase overall profits if the person's work wasn't worth as much as their salary, but firing someone who's work is actually worth something will actually lose you money.
Because we have scientific data that shows the universe had a beginning. You know what's interesting? The story of Genesis, read as an allegory, is nearly perfectly consistent with our current understanding of how the universe began.
hmmm....
why can't it be the universe just is, without the need to say something created it?
People know on a subconscious level that there is a Creator. The signature is on every particle in the universe. Only people who have lost their sense of wonder will miss the obvious existence of a Creator. Look at a honeybee some time. If the entire productive output of the human race were channeled into one project, we could never replicate a creature as simple (relatively speaking) as a single honeybee. The human eye is a fantastically advanced and engineered structure. A peregrine falcon can catch an insect smaller than a housefly at speeds of nearly 200 MPH. A cheetah can outrun freeway traffic. Sea anemones can live at depths that would crush iron.
Now imagine the intellect that, with the basic elements and four forces, engineered it all starting with one superheated mass 15 billion years ago.
That brings the total for the quarter to 603k new hires.
Good. That should about cover the people who were fired last quarter. (Note the only actual employer mentioned was Kia, a non-U.S. company) What about wage growth?
Oops! Article doesn't mention that. Back to you, Bob!
A person is only counted as "unemployed" if they are working-age adults and *desire* to be employed.
Uh huh. That's convenient. So now we can dismiss all of the unfairly fucked over former employees by saying "hey, you must not want a job, because this number says you don't."
Pure, fragrant bullshit.
You ignore people who choose to stay at home
The number includes:
1. Part-time workers 2. Temporary workers 3. Self-employed 4. Out of the work force entirely
And it is an accurate number. Fifty percent are non-full-time workers. Believe it. Don't believe it. I could give a fuck.
Slashdot Mirror
we should just air-drop laptops in their country and wait until they fix everything themselves
Sounds kind of flippant and cynical. Is there some reason they should be deprived of computers?
Education will solve ALL of their problems!
That's exactly right. Knowledge is the key to every problem, no matter how complex or difficult. This project is brilliant, and should be supported.
Why do these countries need a widespread distribution of $100 computers?
So they can learn how to read, for starters. Reading is important. It's the reason we know how to build computers in the first place.
skeptics have questioned whether the device can meet Negroponte's goal of inspiring huge educational gains
Why do skeptics decide? Of what value is the opinion of a skeptic? Why do people listen to skeptics at all? Offer something constructive, or SHUT THE FUCK UP.
"Geez, so why criticize me in public?" Negroponte said.
Good question. Why everyone isn't on this guy's side is beyond me.
Microsoft did not immediately return calls for comment.
Wait, wait. Let me guess. A meeting! Right?!?!
In time, Negroponte expects the $100 laptop to be a misnomer. For one thing, he believes the cost -- which is actually about $135 now and isn't expected to hit $100 until 2008 -- can drop to $50 by 2010 as more and more are produced.
This man should be given a standing ovation everywhere he goes. Anyone who criticizes him should be ashamed of themselves and their companies. This is a worthwhile, workable project, and it should be supported.
All they need is Powerpoint and they can start applying for middle management jobs.
Now that is such beautiful irony... I think I'm going to cry...
are quite possibly the most bitter and narrow-minded person
Because I don't automatically agree that middle management knows best. Everyone's happy as long as people are being fired. Anyone who complains that those people are being treated like dogshit is "bitter and narrow-minded."
Whatever.
Source please?
Genesis, Chapter One.
The universe was all matter lumped together and exploded.
"Let there be light."
Ahh, the tired old intelligent design theory.
a) Tired? It was invented, what, four months ago?
b) I have no idea what "intelligent design theory" is. I've never studied it or read about it anywhere.
why can't you believe the universe just existed
That question has already been answered. 500 years ago, the most advanced science in the world believed the sun revolved around the Earth. It is supremely arrogant of humanity to believe they have even the remotest understanding of anything at all in this universe.
You keep saying that the layoffs are happening for no reason.
They are. If the seperate companies found those employees to "make them money" (since it seems sooooo important that every single person in the company be shoveling cash into the company account), then there is no reason that those employees can't make the combined companies money.
But management will put zero effort into retaining those people. They'll just throw them out on their asses before the ink dries on the merger paperwork, because firing people is the top priority.
My argument here is that there is a reason
Says management. Management is usually wrong. In fact, management is wrong unless proven otherwise. Fastest way to become a multi-zillionaire is to find out what middle managers think, then do the exact opposite as fast as possible.
Whether the money surfaces to pay them or not
Companies had it before the merger. $25 billion dollars buys a lot of hours. There was no reason for these people to lose their jobs until the companies merged. "Redundant" is another word for "incompetent management." Middle management doesn't want to have to think, so they just fire everyone.
there is still nothing for them to do at Lucent
Says management. See above. See, if there's nothing for employees to do, that's management's fault. Management is responsible. Management is incompetent. Management is wrong. Not the employees.
Middle managers do not have the stones to employ people and bring products to market. Face it.
ProClarity ran out of printer paper earlier today as hundreds of employees hurdled their bearclaws and lattes with newly printed copies of their resumes. Uproarious laughter and golf stories were heard in the offices equipped with doors as pink slips were signed, along with bonus checks and option sell orders. Meanwhile the phones were clogged with exit interview schedules and preliminary arguments with collection agencies.
In other news, the last intact family north of Arizona filed for divorce early today after winning a game show prize for most layoff notices before the Super Bowl. Here's Bob with the weather.
If it's so easy to get rid of employees at will, as you suggest, what is the risk in keeping someone on as long as they make you money?
Good question. Maybe the managers that are laying of 9000 people for no reason have an answer.
Oh, and congratulations. You just made my point.
Thousands left without paychecks. Meanwhile the managers who were wrong shrugged and ordered lobster.
In other news, a Smithsonian archaeology exhibit featuring the "capitalistic free market" will be opened later this week...
You realize of course, that any example given will simply become the next topic for argument, right? "That's not critical thinking!" I can hear it already.
You've heard the joke no doubt about the flooded neighborhood.
:-)
A man is trapped on his house with flood water all around and he prays that God will save him from the rising flood water. A few minutes later a man in a rowboat comes along and says "hey, I can help you get to safety!" and the man on the roof says "no thanks, God will save me." About an hour later, three men in a raft show up and say "come with us we have room for more people!" and the man says "no thanks, I prayed that God would save me and he will." By now, the water is almost up to where the man is waiting. A helicopter flies overhead and a man on the speaker yells "grab the ladder we'll pull you up to the helicopter!" and he yells back "no thanks! God will rescue me!" Minutes later the flood washes the man away.
So the man gets to Heaven and is very angry, so he says to God "I believed you would save me. Why did you let me get washed away by the flood?" and God replies "I sent a rowboat, a raft and a helicopter, what more do you want?"
Every successful business hires talented, smart people.
Every business fires talented, smart people.
These people are not you.
Good. I don't have a lying phone-flipping rat fuck asscrack manager, so I don't have to worry about being laid off the week after I sign a mortgage. And I can do the work of ten dockers-wearing air-conditioned fuckwads under budget and under schedule before Corn Flakes. Face it. Donut-stuffing middle management doesn't have the huevos to bring products to market and employ people any more. It's really pretty sad.
Management cares if firing someone will lose them money because ... get this ... it will lose them money.
No they don't. They don't care if they lose money. They don't care about anything except control. They want controlled slaves. They don't want employees, because that would require responsibility. They want infinite profits at zero risk and they don't want competent employees. The merger story is proof.
This is the Problem of Evil that has puzzled theologians and philosphers for millenia.
And you actually expect the answer to appear in a thread on Slashdot?
Where's your URL?
Uh, there's no URL for this one, Sparky. It requires people to think.
or are we supposed to just take you at your word?
I don't give a fuck what you do.
If your mindset wasn't of the glass-half-empty variety, you would see that as 95.2% of the working-age population is gainfully employed.
No. I would see that 95.2% of the working-age population is not drawing unemployment benefits. At least read the statistics. It helps a lot.
and then there are jobsworths like you who wonder why they can't keep a job for any length of time.
I don't wonder. I know exactly why. It's because of lying rat fuck bastard phone-flipping blowdried cheat hairpiece unwiped asscracks in middle management who get paid to talk about golf and fire people. They don't have the stones to employ talented smart people and bring products to market. It's not really that complicated.
Wages too low? Maybe, but more likely the work just isn't worth more than that.
Says management.
It might increase overall profits if the person's work wasn't worth as much as their salary, but firing someone who's work is actually worth something will actually lose you money.
And management cares because?
why couldn't the universe?
Because we have scientific data that shows the universe had a beginning. You know what's interesting? The story of Genesis, read as an allegory, is nearly perfectly consistent with our current understanding of how the universe began.
hmmm....
why can't it be the universe just is, without the need to say something created it?
People know on a subconscious level that there is a Creator. The signature is on every particle in the universe. Only people who have lost their sense of wonder will miss the obvious existence of a Creator. Look at a honeybee some time. If the entire productive output of the human race were channeled into one project, we could never replicate a creature as simple (relatively speaking) as a single honeybee. The human eye is a fantastically advanced and engineered structure. A peregrine falcon can catch an insect smaller than a housefly at speeds of nearly 200 MPH. A cheetah can outrun freeway traffic. Sea anemones can live at depths that would crush iron.
Now imagine the intellect that, with the basic elements and four forces, engineered it all starting with one superheated mass 15 billion years ago.
If you believe otherwise you are retarded.
If irrefutable proof of a miracle occurred in Time Square on New Year's Eve on national television, people would still say it was faked.
Prayer and faith are matters of the heart, not science.
Can you think of any Biblical story where critical thinking was rewarded?
Would you like them listed alphabetically or chronologically?
but we could definitely get religion back in to the home or churche where it belongs and out of public life
That would be unconstitutional. Sorry.
It isn't some supernatural act of God that helps you recover.
God created healing.
leaving humanity a base creature
Made in God's image. Religion is not perfect. God does not devalue humanity. People do.
than the needs of people who may die as the result of an illness.
So then why did God make doctors?
That brings the total for the quarter to 603k new hires.
Good. That should about cover the people who were fired last quarter. (Note the only actual employer mentioned was Kia, a non-U.S. company) What about wage growth?
Oops! Article doesn't mention that. Back to you, Bob!
A person is only counted as "unemployed" if they are working-age adults and *desire* to be employed.
Uh huh. That's convenient. So now we can dismiss all of the unfairly fucked over former employees by saying "hey, you must not want a job, because this number says you don't."
Pure, fragrant bullshit.
You ignore people who choose to stay at home
The number includes:
1. Part-time workers
2. Temporary workers
3. Self-employed
4. Out of the work force entirely
And it is an accurate number. Fifty percent are non-full-time workers. Believe it. Don't believe it. I could give a fuck.