I work for TSA. We really don't get paid that well, and our overtime and staffing have been cut drastically. Maybe if we weren't understaffed by almost 30% of our federally allotted screeners and prohibited from doing overtime, security would be better.
I'm a senior in computer science at a university that has a total of 17000 students. I'm also the only female student in my graduating class.
Conservatively, I'd say there are maybe 7 other female students in CS who've made it to their junior year. CS loses 99% of female students, and it's half way through the semester, so we may have lost a couple more. For a little perspective... there are over 100 guys in their junior or senior year.
I don't understand it. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend their entire scholastic career surrounded by a collection of the geekiest men the university has to offer?
As a student of the PowerPoint generation of teachers, I have to support the parent here. While it is entirely possible to make amazing presentations with PowerPoint, the vast majority of presentations sucked. Teachers really do just read off the slides, and action that tends to offend me as I learned how to read at age 4, and continue to find myself quite capable of that particular task.
Now, I had one teacher who used the slides to throw in pictures, random facts, and even video into a *real* lecture, one that was not based off of the PowerPoint, but rather used the presentation to make the lecture more interesting.
PowerPoint in college, versus high school, can be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. I've seen student presentations that I would have rather gnawed my arm off than continue to listen to... but I've had many a teacher who lectured solely off of PowerPoints, thus making it REALLY easy to make up material you missed.
I am currently a TSA employee. That said, I am a 19 year old university student earning a decent wage in one of the only locations possible to me in this crazy casino town.
I honestly believe that the people I work with are crazy, with the exception of a few kind souls. They are also, in my opinion, mostly too old to be able to efficiently do their jobs. I don't disagree at all with the level of security; I do very thorough bag searches all day long, and honestly don't care if doing my job causes someone else to miss their flight. That said, I think that the people I work with really need to work on their skills concerning the attitude that they give off while they do their jobs.
There is no reason why any medical disability cannot be accommodated. There is no reason why whatever crazy theory someone has (and I've seen my share of crazy) cannot be accommodated. Basically, there is no reason why whatever the passenger (who is a customer, even if not mine) wants cannot be accommodated. As long as we search both the passenger and the bag to determine security, we don't have to be jerks about it.
Private screening is available at all times, although my collegues refuse to offer it. Alternative screening methods exist for just about everything (except laptops and other large electronics... only one choice there). Really, there is no reason why we can't make people happy.
I think that random screening is a good thing. We are a smaller airport; not quite the middle of nowhere, but only a minimal amount of tourist traffic and a few international flights. We have found guns (about one every other week). We have had checkpoint breaches. However... I don't agree with 9 out of 10 calls that my supervisors make about whether or not some borderline maybe-maybe not prohibited item can fly.
While I know a large part of my feelings about this are in defense of my good-paying job that's putting me through school, I do believe we need airport security. I just don't think we're going about it the right way.
In my experiences with all things electronic, there is a certain amount of error that you just come to expect. Being forced to use a Windows system, I have encountered, on many occasions, all my data simply giving up and failing to exist any longer.
In the last election where Florida had to recount their votes, they at least HAD something to recount. What are you going to tell the people of Nevada if the system crashes and their votes are lost? "Sorry, if you voted, we need you to come back?" Personally, I would be more than a little annoyed.
Furthermore, no system is fool-proof entirely. Since the computer programmers who set up the system will more than likely know how to manipulate the system, any corrupt government official will try to buy his (or her) votes. The programmers will have all the power, and what was that saying... oh, yes... "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
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I work for TSA. We really don't get paid that well, and our overtime and staffing have been cut drastically. Maybe if we weren't understaffed by almost 30% of our federally allotted screeners and prohibited from doing overtime, security would be better.
CS is the red-headed step child of the engineering department at my university. They really do call us the "bastard engineers".
I'm a senior in computer science at a university that has a total of 17000 students. I'm also the only female student in my graduating class. Conservatively, I'd say there are maybe 7 other female students in CS who've made it to their junior year. CS loses 99% of female students, and it's half way through the semester, so we may have lost a couple more. For a little perspective... there are over 100 guys in their junior or senior year. I don't understand it. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend their entire scholastic career surrounded by a collection of the geekiest men the university has to offer?
As a student of the PowerPoint generation of teachers, I have to support the parent here. While it is entirely possible to make amazing presentations with PowerPoint, the vast majority of presentations sucked. Teachers really do just read off the slides, and action that tends to offend me as I learned how to read at age 4, and continue to find myself quite capable of that particular task.
Now, I had one teacher who used the slides to throw in pictures, random facts, and even video into a *real* lecture, one that was not based off of the PowerPoint, but rather used the presentation to make the lecture more interesting.
PowerPoint in college, versus high school, can be a very good thing, or a very bad thing. I've seen student presentations that I would have rather gnawed my arm off than continue to listen to... but I've had many a teacher who lectured solely off of PowerPoints, thus making it REALLY easy to make up material you missed.
I am currently a TSA employee. That said, I am a 19 year old university student earning a decent wage in one of the only locations possible to me in this crazy casino town. I honestly believe that the people I work with are crazy, with the exception of a few kind souls. They are also, in my opinion, mostly too old to be able to efficiently do their jobs. I don't disagree at all with the level of security; I do very thorough bag searches all day long, and honestly don't care if doing my job causes someone else to miss their flight. That said, I think that the people I work with really need to work on their skills concerning the attitude that they give off while they do their jobs. There is no reason why any medical disability cannot be accommodated. There is no reason why whatever crazy theory someone has (and I've seen my share of crazy) cannot be accommodated. Basically, there is no reason why whatever the passenger (who is a customer, even if not mine) wants cannot be accommodated. As long as we search both the passenger and the bag to determine security, we don't have to be jerks about it. Private screening is available at all times, although my collegues refuse to offer it. Alternative screening methods exist for just about everything (except laptops and other large electronics... only one choice there). Really, there is no reason why we can't make people happy. I think that random screening is a good thing. We are a smaller airport; not quite the middle of nowhere, but only a minimal amount of tourist traffic and a few international flights. We have found guns (about one every other week). We have had checkpoint breaches. However... I don't agree with 9 out of 10 calls that my supervisors make about whether or not some borderline maybe-maybe not prohibited item can fly. While I know a large part of my feelings about this are in defense of my good-paying job that's putting me through school, I do believe we need airport security. I just don't think we're going about it the right way.
In my experiences with all things electronic, there is a certain amount of error that you just come to expect. Being forced to use a Windows system, I have encountered, on many occasions, all my data simply giving up and failing to exist any longer. In the last election where Florida had to recount their votes, they at least HAD something to recount. What are you going to tell the people of Nevada if the system crashes and their votes are lost? "Sorry, if you voted, we need you to come back?" Personally, I would be more than a little annoyed. Furthermore, no system is fool-proof entirely. Since the computer programmers who set up the system will more than likely know how to manipulate the system, any corrupt government official will try to buy his (or her) votes. The programmers will have all the power, and what was that saying... oh, yes... "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."