Slashdot Mirror


User: Javit

Javit's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
83
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 83

  1. Re:.gov gone wild on Finnish Bureaucracy Takes Issue With Crowdfunded Textbook · · Score: 2

    That doesn't address the issue. Obviously. Unless you'd consider an on-average "happy" constituency and credible government a defense of any possible policy. But I suppose it's to be expected; your planet probably doesn't have propagandized citizenries and disenfranchised minorities.

  2. Re:In real jobs or fake ones? on Report Cites Highest IT Job Growth In 4 Years · · Score: 1

    "... or going to cost quite a bit over market rate ..."

    No, it will cost exactly market rate. You clearly understand the basic dynamic yourself: if you raised your bid you would be able to "poach someone from another position," but at your current price sellers aren't interested. If we were talking about the analogous situation in the stock market, or the supermarket, you'd recognize the silliness of calling your low bid "market rate" and then complaining that the actual rate is "over" that.

  3. Re:France has a problem on Man Physically Assaulted At McDonald's For Wearing Digital Eye Glasses · · Score: 1

    The fact only has relevance in a racist context, specifically one where people are judged according to their racial group rather than on individual merit.

  4. Re:I trust parents more than government on Lack of Vaccination Sends Babies In Oregon To the Hospital · · Score: 1

    I'm concerned more about when experts are merely powerful people advancing their own best interests, which seems to come up peculiarly often. Granted, that is not the case here, and my example of deferring to Condoleezza Rice's foreign policy expertise is dramatic.

    Even so, the political question of whether or not we should force parents to vaccinate their children is not a question of science but of subjective human concerns like justice, fairness, morality, ethics. There's little doubt that a child is better off vaccinated, and that the society is healthier if everyone is vaccinated. On the other hand, and we're probably talking past each other here, I'm extremely loathe to force parents to vaccinate children. It does not strike me as an issue that is appropriately dealt with through law enforcement or child protection agencies, which is how such matters would ultimately be enforced. As with the case of NYC and smoking, however, I would support fairly heavy incentives and launching an educational campaign. Video of children disabled by easily preventable diseases is just as thought-provoking as elderly people dying of lung cancer.

  5. Re:I trust parents more than government on Lack of Vaccination Sends Babies In Oregon To the Hospital · · Score: 1

    I think that's a dangerous line of reasoning, that we should defer to experts alone and enforce their views. It's anti-democratic, and you end up in many cases deferring to the powerful. Condoleezza Rice knows a lot more about government and foreign policy than just about anyone, but I'll be damned if I'm going to follow her into another war to secure American dominance.

    The natural sciences may be somewhat immune from distortion given that reality imposes a harsh discipline, but there's a lot out there from individual studies to whole disciplines that are categorized as "science" when it's a complete misnomer.

    I'd rather we resort to education. New York City's anti-smoking campaign has been much more successful through education and incentives than the country's drug policy has been through force. If we want to get the vaccination rate up, I say we spend the money on educational campaigns rather than on the heavy hand of law enforcement and various Child Protective Services agencies.

  6. Re:Again with the visas on America's Future Is In Software, Not Hardware · · Score: 1

    Your post exhibits two ideas that are prominent among people hiring in well-compensated fields: 1) It is meaningful to apply a strict ordering to candidates, and 2) you can discover this ordering. It's far more likely that neither one of these are true in most real circumstances. You could have thrown a dart to pick among the final 7 candidates.

    The odd thing about this is that when captains of industry are asked how the American worker can improve his lot, we are told workers need to be more flexible. They must be willing to retrain, relocate, accept less compensation, etc. Yet when businesses hire, they are completely inflexible. Only the perfect candidate at the desired price will do, or we are led to believe the business won't function. Maybe it's time for businesses to be a little more flexible in their hiring and "make do" with the domestic labor pool.

  7. Re:Dayum.... WTF on After Rick Perry's Stem Cell Treatment, Misplaced Enthusiasm? · · Score: 1

    He may or may not have been duped. He definitely agreed to undergo a medical procedure regarded as risky by respected practitioners, but that's not the same thing. Furthermore, if making a personal decision that most people wouldn't agree with disqualifies one from political office, clearly no one would be truly qualified. Instead, there seems to be a more basic rule at play: if we are sympathetic towards the politician, the mistake is unrelated; if we are not, it's not.

  8. Re:Stupid slope on BART Disables Cell Service To Disrupt Protests · · Score: 2

    Imminent. As in, about to happen. I think eminent for imminent might qualify as an eggcorn in this context, though.

  9. Re:Why guns? on FTC Okays Social Media Background Check Company · · Score: 2

    First of all, your reactionary argument is incongruous for someone who doubtless considers himself a leftist. Second, the politics of private gun ownership have nothing to do with identity politics. That term is used to describe politics based on one's perceived self-interest as an intrinsic member of a social group. Broadening it to cover ideological groups would render it meaningless, in which case you might as well remove the reference anyway.

    That aside, I think your post says a lot more about you than it does about the hypothetical fellow posing with a handgun. His possible motivation is limited only by the imagination of the guesser. From my experience, I can tell you he probably doesn't think his handgun is "an ugly tool," its usage "always grim and sober." He probably thinks it's pretty cool in the same way certain men (and women) like monster trucks or rocketry. He will only ever shoot it recreationally, and probably expects to use it in self defense about as often as he expects his house to burn down. To be clear: never.

    When I see a picture of someone with a gun, I have about as much a sense of foreboding as when I see a children's marshal arts class. I'm sure if you owned a gun and used it recreationally, or lived with someone who did, you wouldn't find them so fearful either.

  10. LOL on Google Asks 'Who Cares Where Your Data Is?' · · Score: 1

    This guy's got to be kidding me. Upton Sinclair said it best: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

  11. Re:Have to agree..Facebook too! on Richard Stallman: Cell Phones Are 'Stalin's Dream' · · Score: 1

    You should have more sympathy. He probably lives in the type of place where the national investigatory authority is liable to attach a GPS tracker to your car for being the wrong kind of person or thinking the wrong kind of thoughts.

  12. Re:Evil reaches the iPad on News Corp. and Apple Unveil The Daily · · Score: 1

    You would, then, give fair consideration to research from a known conservative organization so long as the subject doesn't involve the former employer of a founder (or similar)? Your original response seems to indicate a hostility to the research of known-biased organizations.

  13. Re:Evil reaches the iPad on News Corp. and Apple Unveil The Daily · · Score: 1

    I didn't say that. I said they're biased. Media Matters for America and FAIR are progressive media watchdog groups. I think it would be fair of you (pardon the pun) to find other sources if you're going to criticize citations to organizations with a stated or likely conservative bias.

  14. Re:Evil reaches the iPad on News Corp. and Apple Unveil The Daily · · Score: 1

    Seems hypocritical to dismiss osgeek's cited info as coming from a biased organization if you're going to cite biased organizations yourself.

  15. Re:Stupid on Supreme Court Refuses P2P 'Innocent Sharing' Case · · Score: 1

    It was a politically-charged joke.

    Hah, nice try bozo. It was a stupid knee-jerk response to someone you perceive to be on the "other side."

  16. Re:Test it! on FEMA and DHS Fund Disaster Hero Game · · Score: 1

    FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!

    FIX IT FIX IT FIX IT!

    (all while not using too many caps, Mr. Obama. We have a lameness filter to avoid, here.)

  17. Re:You insensitive clod! on Did We Lose the Privacy War? · · Score: 1

    http://slashdot.org/users.pl?uid=31337

    Apparently not a valid account.

  18. Re:Success! on Initial Tests Fail To Find Gravitational Waves · · Score: 1

    As another poster mentioned, Richard Feynman set a pretty high bar.

    A great interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/broadband/archive/feynman/

  19. Re:Iran on Iran Moves To End "Facebook Revolution" · · Score: 1

    On the other hand, tying the Republican candidate to Bush was an incredibly successful strategy used by the Democrats in congressional elections throughout the country in 2008. "We" may have still wanted him in 2004, but you can fairly content yourself that many Americans wanted nothing to do with him in 2008.

  20. Re:Then say goodbye to: on The End of Tax-Free Internet Shopping? · · Score: 1

    We don't need the founders permission to do anything at all regarding the Constitution, they're all dead. However, should we keep it, I don't think they intended the amendment process to be carried out via "interpretation." After all, what's the point of all the debate and compromise needed to pass an amendment if you (or your appointees) can just decide it means something different altogether?

  21. Re:Uh, no it's not. Never was. Never will be. on Computer Science Major Is Cool Again · · Score: 1

    Don't be an ass. You know where you are.

  22. Re:Cool? on Computer Science Major Is Cool Again · · Score: 1

    Where do you live that the wealthy are predominantly Republican? I'm from CT's "gold coast," and am definitely in the minority around here as even a Republican sympathizer. CA's wealthy suburbs are the only others I'm familiar with, and they also seem majority Democratic. I think the party divide is more along urban/rural than poor/wealthy.

  23. Re:one of FOSS's problems. on Hope For FOSS In Electronic Health Records · · Score: 1

    I commend you on your excellent written English. However, you seem to have run across one of the language's many "gotchas." "I.e." stands for "id est" and means "that is"; I believe you meant to use "e.g.," which stands for "exempli gratia" and means "for example".

  24. Re:No way in hell! on Do We Need a New Internet? · · Score: 1

    Aw, Jesus man, thanks. :)

    -A Wounded Yet Amused American

  25. Re:Unfortunately... on Chu's Final Breakthrough Before Taking Office · · Score: 1

    You're asking for a man who knows how to manipulate you. People who study for years don't know how to measure 'intelligence.' You think you know what it takes to be President, how to measure those qualities?

    You'll get what you want.