For another thing, most atheists I know are quite familiar with the commmon arguments for and against the existence of God and knows at least a bit about the history of Christianity and the Bible. (Often weak on other religions, but hey, Christians are the majority religion here and are often big proselytizers.) Atheism is not a position most people come to passively or inherit from their parents -- unlike most religions. The atheists I know are well read, thoughtful, rational, highly informed people.
No doubt. But even the most rational, highly informed people can make sweeping and rather ignorant statements. Go to a college dorm sometime and listen to how many so-called "free thinkers" get all junta about Christians sharing their beliefs or praying at meals.
Or writing off anyone who doesn't denounce God as knuckle dragging beasts with some form of brain disorder. As someone who is a proffessed Christian with a degree in Physics, I find it rather hilarious when many of liberal friends go through circular mental gymnastics to disprove God or show the scriptures contradict themselves (often misquoting verses and skipping over whole sections.)
I wasn't singling out atheists -- I know plenty and respect their opinions (more often than my Christian friends, who often come up with some the craziest irrational statements I've ever heard). My point is that there is plenty of ignorant proselytizing to go around.
Is it any surprise that the Bush White House hired a) a lobbyist hack b) mouth-foaming ideologue or c) a personal golfing buddy for a crucial job such as securing our national IT infrastructure? Remember, when Katrina hit NOLA, FEMA was being run by guy whose last job was judging horse shows. Dollars to doughnuts that this new under secretary starts handing out major Cyber Security contracts to Bush's "pioneer" contributors or his "Father's brother's former roommate". Business as usual.
">Americans don't know what net neutrality is, and they don't want it
How can anyone have an opinion on something if they don't know what it is?"
That doesn't stop creationist ministers who don't study biophysics, self-righteous atheists who attack religous people, race-baiting anti-immigrant types who don't full understand NAFTA and GATT or people jumping the anti-welfare bandwagon without knowing anything about how public assistance works.
Its usually the least informed who have the most to say.
"...this development, along with the Bill and Melinda foundation, means we now have extremely large, extremely rich companies doing what our governments should be doing."
My thoughts exactly. Instead of everyone lining up to go Lewinsky on Bill Gates and the Google Boys, the real question that should be "Why devil isn't our government doing this?" Charity is meant to supplement and not supplant a modern western government, particularly the richest Western Government on Earth. I remember Fortune and Forbes praising Wal Mart (Yes, the billion dollar box store to damn cheap to pay for basic health insurance for its employees or pay sweatshop workers more than $5/week) and its work after Katrina. Uhm, okay, whatever. I mean, do we really want to rely on the same class of people responsible for Microsoft ME and the Enron Scandal to cleaning up social problems? Not that government's any better, but you can atleast (in theory) demand someone's head in a Government. Corporation, OTOH, only have to answer to share holders and their investors.
Though I don't percieve the Google guys or Bill Gates as evil incarnate, this is an eerie encroachment of corporations taking over the role that governments and politicians should be handling. Before we all start (mis)quoting John Adams, lets not forget the people in Africa are dying diarrhea b/c someone like Coca-Cola or Pepsi control the water supply. If you don't have a few mill to splurge on tech stock. You are SOL. Lets not forget that back at the turn of the century, insurance companies and not the government ran the fire department. Whole sections of New York City and Chicago would burn in infernos because Fireman weren't obligate to put out blazes for anyone who didn't have the insurance medallions. It didn't work then and it will be an even bigger mess now.
And if you're response is, "Well, our government isn't doing it.", my response is that if you didn't vote, actively get involved in the political process beyond the typical Slashdotter's (often half-informed) bitch fess or simply get involved in the local government then you got what you deserve. Election time is coming around soon. So if you're sick entire of the Replubicrats screwing things up, just vote the Green Party, Working Family party, reform party, conservative party or the Libertarian on general principle. Read up on candidates and find out if you can give with their overall principles -- or even better, screw the two party system and find out about third parties that actually believe what you do. And in 2007, get a few friends together and run for local office. I'm sure you're local school board or town council could use a few independent minded nerds to call them out on their bull.
Think about it -- isn't solving social ills and protecting us from natural disasters and war are what we have elected officials for in the first place? It shouldn't take Google to push for more fuel effiecent cars, Kellog, Brown & Root to run the army, Hugo Chavez to provide heating oil for poor people in the Bronx or Bill Gates to put decent desktops in inner city high schools.
Don't get me wrong, the Google guys have made ballsy move-- investing their dough in actually helping mankind (instead mansions and basketball teams). They seem to have their hearts in the right place. But as mentioned, what if these guys croaked and replaced by some real money grubbers? If we just surrender our social responsibility to these for profit "foundations" we are in deep do-do.
Lets not forget that corporation in the end, are no better than dope dealers and gangsters -- their only concern is the bottom line. Also, lets not our elected leaders (whose salaries and healthcare we pay for in taxes), get off the hook for not doing their jobs. Election Day is coming up soon. So get up, get informed (beyond Cable News and the NYT), bitch less and act more.
You hit the nail on the head. The reason why you have so many of my fellow citizens rallying aboutg this fact is that, for the most part, AMERICANS ARE STUPID PEOPLE!!! There, after so many years of political activism and voter registration, I can say with that with impunity. There is no logical way to explain otherwise.
In what sane, rational universe do we not impeach a President for blantantly lying us into two wars against defenseless nations? ( I know its not a popular view, but Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11 either.) And now, we are building nukes and wondering why countries like North Korea and Iran are in a rush for an A-bomb? Isn't it obvious that they are logically scared shitless of our current leadership?
Americans refuse to think for themselves, our at least vote for someone else other than two clones. Americans are more interested in the fate of dead white girls in Aruba than what's going on in the war. This nation has enough problems with the environment, an energy crunch, education, poverty and soon to collaspe economy. How about we demand resources put into this instead of weapon we're supposed to be getting rid of? Hmmm...........oh, that's right, it would make sense. And logic isn't a American value anymore.
Working in a hospital, I can tell you that the higher upper the clinician, the more likely s/he a) couldn't turn on a computer with a roadmap b) doesn't feel s/he should have to know. You don't want to know how many times I've been paged by Doctors b/c they can't figure out how use a web browser.
White collar proffessionals are sometimes the most frustating end users at times b/c they're used to an environment where everyone just snaps into place and does the "little" things for him/her and their job (Doctor, Lawyer, College Proffessors, Banker, Politician, whatever) usually demands shock and awe from most people. Nerds, instictively regards a doctor who can't open his DVD drive the same way he regards some little old lady who can't open the DVD drive. And that causes massive friction.
I'm probably one of the few people in my office who couldn't care that these guys are cardiologists. I fix the equipment, design the workflow, install new stuff monitor the network and manage the databases. I don't crack people chests open and they don't know the first thing about building a raid server. I help them b/c they're end users and its my job (also alot of the hardware I support is literally hooked up to patients and if my systems don't work, people could die). However, I have cussed my fair share of doctors and nurses over not listening after I've said something 80 times.
All in all, you have to build up some pretty thick skin to work around people who like to flaunt how many years they were in school and make close to $
220/hr.
The "better" one. Frack. A dime a dozen in tech supprt. Sorry, dude, but the reason your career didn't advance is because you didn't have the people skills to climb the ladder.
How many of us here have done tech support as a full time gig? I bet the show of hands is impressive. How many realized it was time to move on, not just from the job, but from the "customerz R teh st00pitz" attitude as well?
No? Haven't figured that out yet? Enjoy your time in the middle.
There's always one, or more, of those guys who feel that they have been given the shaft. They're just so good technically but they can't seem to put a career together. Why? It' must be dumb luck and conspiracy. "I don't get promoted because [manager|company|god] is threatened by my skill, or because they are short sighted, or because maybe I didn't take a shower this month".
Those of you who have your eyes upwards, or elsewhere know who I'm talking about. Those who are this guy will not realize it.
Where was he going to go? Assistant shift manager and put in even longer hours, deal with the same issues over and over again. He didn't move up because he was doing TECH SUPPORT, the lowest form of IT work just above a (uggh!!) tape operator. Giving a rat's booty about a deadend job isn't worth it, unless you have absolutely no ambition. Being a prick to clients isn't suggested ever, if only being one makes dealing with clients even harder. But tech support will grate your spirit and tolerance to nothing, period. Particularly, since he's working tech support for something as common as a Mac. It's not like he's troubleshooting missle guidance software or some bizarre financial forecasting system. This guy was frustrated and left because he knows he wasn't going to move in tech support !!!
Look, anyone with a college degree will quickly grown tired of a tech support job of any sort, particularly low level tech support like common appliance/PC phone support. It sucks, big time. The pay is (really)low, mobility is limited, the hours generally suck and everyday you wasted a good portion of your waking hours. (Unless you're a cop or work in a hospital, you shouldn't be required to work 10+ hours on holidays.) I understand that he shouldn't complain since he's not flipping burgers or cleaning bathrooms, but as a former tech support with a college degree (who also flipped burgers and scrubbed bathrooms to get that degree), I totally understand.
As of now, I'm at work for a few hours to polish up some interface code at my job as a Systems Analyst at hospital. Its tougher than most tech support jobs (Ever try to to fix a software/hardware glitch in under 10 minutes with two doctors, three nurses and semiconcious patient are starting at you?) I quit working tech support in Nov 04 after (exactly) two years of toiling in near poverty at a deadend hell hole. And I've never been happier.
Here, here. I hated my last job, but as Sys Admin in a linux based webhost, learning Linux commandline was the difference between sink or swim. It also taught me the difference a good admin and some goober who can turn on a PC. A good admin can actually sit down and explain what his computer is doing. Commandline force you to learn what and why your server/pc/whatever is doing what it does. It try to hide the "magic in the box" like a GUI.
In the world computers, commandline is stick and GUI is automatic. One is harder to learn, but in the end, you'll have a better understanding of how your car works.
I'm a freelance developer for a day trading firm and a PACS/RIS** administrator for municipal hospital, so most of my projects involve really massive planning for large amounts of data. Whenever I start a new project, I right every little component in a big lab notebook. I even right out major snippets of code, line by line. This helps me in several ways.
One, when I start plunking away at the keyboard, most of my ideas have been muddled through and I'm not wasting time fumbling through books and websites to find answers. I can also note what ideas did and did not work. Also, since I am typically juggling mutliple projects, it helps me keep track of what I've done and what I have to do.
Second, I've learned to keep it for review. Basically, I learned at my last job that documentation can save your butt, especially when working with nurse manager who still can't find her archives folder in Outlook or trying to explain how archaic software works to management when nobody has even looked at the source code in 7 years. Its a picture into my brain and its a log of where things have progressed for a give project.
Third, my notebook has served me are my only way to figure out what the heck I'm working on. Essentially, I've always been given a massive system to rework/hack/redesign that nobody else bothered to figure out. My notebook is my only guide to solving problems, since its my only reliable reference.
Fourth, a journal can double as a weekly to do list. Alot of times, I have so much crap going on running my system that I forget what the hell I was working on. So, I often write down 10 projects or assignments I need to do within two weeks and cross them off as I go along.
And finally, it keeps me from having to write the same things twice. Often, I can use code snippets, data structures and old work flow schemas in other projects. that's really helpful when you're up until 12-1 in the morning hammer away at some God awful perl script and you need to get everything finished by the weekend.
** PACS and RIS stand for Picture ArChiving System and Radiological Information System, respectively. They are two ancillary systems that hospitals now use to save X-ray, CT, MRI and other images of the body.
I was a medical physics major w/ a minor in computer vision technology.
As a point, your senior project will get you into the door. And believe it or not, for many IT pros, that senior project will be relevant for alteast 5 years in you ever get laid off or leave your job. I still have potential employers asking about that project and I graduate (BS, Applied Physics) in 2000.
Having said that, I would suggest doing a subject that you would tinker with even if your diploma didn't depend on it. That will make the long hours in the lab pass by alot better. For me, I chose my project b/c I worked in the Comp Vision lab as a gofer/ assistant for 2 years. I was already familiar w/ the research, so I didn't mind long dry papers on energy functionals, computational hemodynamics and edge detection theory.
Dude, don't wast your time on Naderites, because they're just as zealous and out of touch as Right Wing Christian lunatics who think that God talks to Bush.
I brought this in the Nader Factor. The Naderites are in many ways, just as dangerous as the Bush followers. The fact that so many Naderites are ready to play loose with the electoral process and couldn't give a damn if the Chimp from Texas gets back into office should tell that this is all ego and not about progress. Hopefully, REAL progressive won't take their fantasy island attitude.
Why don't you just work for your candidate and forget about tearing down the others who aren't in complete agreement with you? Why don't you use your eloquence to attack Bush instead of Nader? Surely, Bush is a more important target.
BTW, I am my own candidate. I'm actually running for local office. Where the REAL GP candidate, Cobb, is encouraging Greens to get involve locally, Nader's distracting local progressives from doing things that are meaningful.
Why don't you use your eloquence to attack Bush instead of Nader?
Because the Article is about Nader, not Bush. Believe me, I've become famous in my hometown (and amongst my Repub friends) more my absolute loathing of Furer Bush and the Far Right.
However, the attitude of Nader and his ardent followers are similar to that of a cult. They're no different than the right wing fundy Xians that scary almost everyone, left and right. If Nader and his acolytes were so concerned about democracy for the people, they would focus on getting local progressive in to one party towns. Get a Green and/or a reform on the school board in the democratic-strangleholds called NE college towns or on bastions of Republican power in middle America.
No, this about egoism and puritanical fanatism. The problems is that Nader and his followers share many of the scary qualities that make Bush and his gang to evil.
You read his words, I've worked with him and heard him speak as well as read his words. Yes, I have read "unsafe at any speed", as well "no contest" the Ralph Nader Reader and "Crashing the Party". I've also worked with staffers that he would call at midnight over the Western Conference Championships a few years back.
I never said Ralph's issues are bad, I'm saying that he's not the man to carry them. Go check out http://realchange.org/ to lay out exactly what my gripes are.
- Cappa
- Cappa
Re:As Green I wouldn't vote for Nader if you paid
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Yes, I know. Blame on Opera. For some reason it doesn't publish very well.
Re:As Green I wouldn't vote for Nader if you paid
on
The Nader Factor
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· Score: 1
I didn't say that there weren't scarier things out there.......it's just that Nader is rather scary.
Wow, that's the sentiment of far too many people. Its this overall idea of selfish and self-interest that make people like Bush and Kerry electable. Is that kind of think that makes guys like Nader and Cobb laughable, although they are probably the more sober voices in politics.
Here's a reality check....we are not the only people on the planet and its our biological responsibility to maintain a stable environment for the survival our our species. Almost all major religious and philosophical ideologies share a common strand of good stewardship for future generations.
Yeah, you don't have kids. So what?! You're going to leave this pigsty of a planet to someone else's offspring b/c they don't share your DNA?! Damn, we're truly are a selfish generation!!
As Green I wouldn't vote for Nader if you paid me:
on
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I support third parties and fully believe that the only way to take out the two headed hydra that dominates DC is to run non-conventional candidates against them. However, Nader is just as scary, if not scarier than wack jobs like Buchannan and Perot.
Nader has alot of ideas that I agree with. But honestly, he has the kind divine authoratian streak that make many slashdotters question our current pResident's sanity.
My problem with Nader's run isn't that he'll take votes from Kerry, actually. Its the fact that Nader and his followers are puritanical ideologues convinced wholeheartedly of their own greatness. The fact that Smirk getting back into office doesn't scare them should send chills up the spine of any sane or rational progressive. The scarier problem would be if these freaks ever came to power.
One of my biggest fears with Nader is not whether or not Bush wins...its the eerie notion of Nader a president. It would the bizarre bastard child of force-fed political correctness, 1950's style social graces and left-wing Fascism that will define a Nader presidency.
Remember that crap ass movie "Demolition Man"? Remember the vegan, androgynous wimp world that they future was? There was no meat, rock music or profanity or sex. Im a vegan and I would cringe at the type of world. This is the kind of whacked out world would be a political wet dream from people like Nader.
Talking to a lot of Naderites, there's an eerie dictatorial streak within them. They think just because they may be right, they can shoehorn and ram their ideas down peoples throats. Seeing as many of these guys think Communist Russia wasn't that bad doesn't surprise me.
I asked a fellow Green and ardent Naderite how does Nader expect to pass all of his more whacked out notions (like banning video games) without the support of Congress. He said without blinking an eye that Ralph could just pass everything as an executive order. Isn't that the kind of tyrannical bullshit that they get all pissed about with Bush?
Its fine for Nader to rule by fiat because "he fights for the people"? Come on guys, lay off the weed!
We agree on one point, if Bush gets elected, no Republican would be able to seek office for next 20-30 years, if the nation survives that long afterward. If Nader, or anyone like him, were to get into the drivers seat, he'll set our agenda back twice as far.
Even the national Green Parties (they are technically two) told Nader to take a hike. Why? Because Nader basically felt that somehow the GP needed him, He calls us political immature because we as a party had the audacity to nominate an actual Green for president. He didn't notice that Greens are officially the nation's third largest political party and are growing in spite of him.
I'm a Green and will continue to be one. But my biggest pet peeves in politics are stubbornness and arrogance. Nader's a threat because he would put Bush back into office. But I would argue Ralph Nader would be just as scary, if not scarier, if he were in power
A REAL Green
Slashdot Mirror
No doubt. But even the most rational, highly informed people can make sweeping and rather ignorant statements. Go to a college dorm sometime and listen to how many so-called "free thinkers" get all junta about Christians sharing their beliefs or praying at meals.
Or writing off anyone who doesn't denounce God as knuckle dragging beasts with some form of brain disorder. As someone who is a proffessed Christian with a degree in Physics, I find it rather hilarious when many of liberal friends go through circular mental gymnastics to disprove God or show the scriptures contradict themselves (often misquoting verses and skipping over whole sections.)
I wasn't singling out atheists -- I know plenty and respect their opinions (more often than my Christian friends, who often come up with some the craziest irrational statements I've ever heard). My point is that there is plenty of ignorant proselytizing to go around.
Is it any surprise that the Bush White House hired a) a lobbyist hack b) mouth-foaming ideologue or c) a personal golfing buddy for a crucial job such as securing our national IT infrastructure? Remember, when Katrina hit NOLA, FEMA was being run by guy whose last job was judging horse shows. Dollars to doughnuts that this new under secretary starts handing out major Cyber Security contracts to Bush's "pioneer" contributors or his "Father's brother's former roommate". Business as usual.
That doesn't stop creationist ministers who don't study biophysics, self-righteous atheists who attack religous people, race-baiting anti-immigrant types who don't full understand NAFTA and GATT or people jumping the anti-welfare bandwagon without knowing anything about how public assistance works.
Its usually the least informed who have the most to say.
My thoughts exactly. Instead of everyone lining up to go Lewinsky on Bill Gates and the Google Boys, the real question that should be "Why devil isn't our government doing this?" Charity is meant to supplement and not supplant a modern western government, particularly the richest Western Government on Earth. I remember Fortune and Forbes praising Wal Mart (Yes, the billion dollar box store to damn cheap to pay for basic health insurance for its employees or pay sweatshop workers more than $5/week) and its work after Katrina. Uhm, okay, whatever. I mean, do we really want to rely on the same class of people responsible for Microsoft ME and the Enron Scandal to cleaning up social problems? Not that government's any better, but you can atleast (in theory) demand someone's head in a Government. Corporation, OTOH, only have to answer to share holders and their investors.
Though I don't percieve the Google guys or Bill Gates as evil incarnate, this is an eerie encroachment of corporations taking over the role that governments and politicians should be handling. Before we all start (mis)quoting John Adams, lets not forget the people in Africa are dying diarrhea b/c someone like Coca-Cola or Pepsi control the water supply. If you don't have a few mill to splurge on tech stock. You are SOL. Lets not forget that back at the turn of the century, insurance companies and not the government ran the fire department. Whole sections of New York City and Chicago would burn in infernos because Fireman weren't obligate to put out blazes for anyone who didn't have the insurance medallions. It didn't work then and it will be an even bigger mess now.
And if you're response is, "Well, our government isn't doing it.", my response is that if you didn't vote, actively get involved in the political process beyond the typical Slashdotter's (often half-informed) bitch fess or simply get involved in the local government then you got what you deserve. Election time is coming around soon. So if you're sick entire of the Replubicrats screwing things up, just vote the Green Party, Working Family party, reform party, conservative party or the Libertarian on general principle. Read up on candidates and find out if you can give with their overall principles -- or even better, screw the two party system and find out about third parties that actually believe what you do. And in 2007, get a few friends together and run for local office. I'm sure you're local school board or town council could use a few independent minded nerds to call them out on their bull.
Think about it -- isn't solving social ills and protecting us from natural disasters and war are what we have elected officials for in the first place? It shouldn't take Google to push for more fuel effiecent cars, Kellog, Brown & Root to run the army, Hugo Chavez to provide heating oil for poor people in the Bronx or Bill Gates to put decent desktops in inner city high schools.
Don't get me wrong, the Google guys have made ballsy move-- investing their dough in actually helping mankind (instead mansions and basketball teams). They seem to have their hearts in the right place. But as mentioned, what if these guys croaked and replaced by some real money grubbers? If we just surrender our social responsibility to these for profit "foundations" we are in deep do-do.
Lets not forget that corporation in the end, are no better than dope dealers and gangsters -- their only concern is the bottom line. Also, lets not our elected leaders (whose salaries and healthcare we pay for in taxes), get off the hook for not doing their jobs. Election Day is coming up soon. So get up, get informed (beyond Cable News and the NYT), bitch less and act more.
You hit the nail on the head. The reason why you have so many of my fellow citizens rallying aboutg this fact is that, for the most part, AMERICANS ARE STUPID PEOPLE!!! There, after so many years of political activism and voter registration, I can say with that with impunity. There is no logical way to explain otherwise.
In what sane, rational universe do we not impeach a President for blantantly lying us into two wars against defenseless nations? ( I know its not a popular view, but Afghanistan had nothing to do with 9/11 either.) And now, we are building nukes and wondering why countries like North Korea and Iran are in a rush for an A-bomb? Isn't it obvious that they are logically scared shitless of our current leadership?
Americans refuse to think for themselves, our at least vote for someone else other than two clones. Americans are more interested in the fate of dead white girls in Aruba than what's going on in the war. This nation has enough problems with the environment, an energy crunch, education, poverty and soon to collaspe economy. How about we demand resources put into this instead of weapon we're supposed to be getting rid of? Hmmm...........oh, that's right, it would make sense. And logic isn't a American value anymore.
Cappadonna
Working in a hospital, I can tell you that the higher upper the clinician, the more likely s/he a) couldn't turn on a computer with a roadmap b) doesn't feel s/he should have to know. You don't want to know how many times I've been paged by Doctors b/c they can't figure out how use a web browser.
White collar proffessionals are sometimes the most frustating end users at times b/c they're used to an environment where everyone just snaps into place and does the "little" things for him/her and their job (Doctor, Lawyer, College Proffessors, Banker, Politician, whatever) usually demands shock and awe from most people. Nerds, instictively regards a doctor who can't open his DVD drive the same way he regards some little old lady who can't open the DVD drive. And that causes massive friction.
I'm probably one of the few people in my office who couldn't care that these guys are cardiologists. I fix the equipment, design the workflow, install new stuff monitor the network and manage the databases. I don't crack people chests open and they don't know the first thing about building a raid server. I help them b/c they're end users and its my job (also alot of the hardware I support is literally hooked up to patients and if my systems don't work, people could die). However, I have cussed my fair share of doctors and nurses over not listening after I've said something 80 times.
All in all, you have to build up some pretty thick skin to work around people who like to flaunt how many years they were in school and make close to $ 220/hr.
Where was he going to go? Assistant shift manager and put in even longer hours, deal with the same issues over and over again. He didn't move up because he was doing TECH SUPPORT, the lowest form of IT work just above a (uggh!!) tape operator. Giving a rat's booty about a deadend job isn't worth it, unless you have absolutely no ambition. Being a prick to clients isn't suggested ever, if only being one makes dealing with clients even harder. But tech support will grate your spirit and tolerance to nothing, period. Particularly, since he's working tech support for something as common as a Mac. It's not like he's troubleshooting missle guidance software or some bizarre financial forecasting system. This guy was frustrated and left because he knows he wasn't going to move in tech support !!!
Look, anyone with a college degree will quickly grown tired of a tech support job of any sort, particularly low level tech support like common appliance/PC phone support. It sucks, big time. The pay is (really)low, mobility is limited, the hours generally suck and everyday you wasted a good portion of your waking hours. (Unless you're a cop or work in a hospital, you shouldn't be required to work 10+ hours on holidays.) I understand that he shouldn't complain since he's not flipping burgers or cleaning bathrooms, but as a former tech support with a college degree (who also flipped burgers and scrubbed bathrooms to get that degree), I totally understand.
As of now, I'm at work for a few hours to polish up some interface code at my job as a Systems Analyst at hospital. Its tougher than most tech support jobs (Ever try to to fix a software/hardware glitch in under 10 minutes with two doctors, three nurses and semiconcious patient are starting at you?) I quit working tech support in Nov 04 after (exactly) two years of toiling in near poverty at a deadend hell hole. And I've never been happier.
In the world computers, commandline is stick and GUI is automatic. One is harder to learn, but in the end, you'll have a better understanding of how your car works.
One, when I start plunking away at the keyboard, most of my ideas have been muddled through and I'm not wasting time fumbling through books and websites to find answers. I can also note what ideas did and did not work. Also, since I am typically juggling mutliple projects, it helps me keep track of what I've done and what I have to do.
Second, I've learned to keep it for review. Basically, I learned at my last job that documentation can save your butt, especially when working with nurse manager who still can't find her archives folder in Outlook or trying to explain how archaic software works to management when nobody has even looked at the source code in 7 years. Its a picture into my brain and its a log of where things have progressed for a give project.
Third, my notebook has served me are my only way to figure out what the heck I'm working on. Essentially, I've always been given a massive system to rework/hack/redesign that nobody else bothered to figure out. My notebook is my only guide to solving problems, since its my only reliable reference.
Fourth, a journal can double as a weekly to do list. Alot of times, I have so much crap going on running my system that I forget what the hell I was working on. So, I often write down 10 projects or assignments I need to do within two weeks and cross them off as I go along.
And finally, it keeps me from having to write the same things twice. Often, I can use code snippets, data structures and old work flow schemas in other projects. that's really helpful when you're up until 12-1 in the morning hammer away at some God awful perl script and you need to get everything finished by the weekend.
** PACS and RIS stand for Picture ArChiving System and Radiological Information System, respectively. They are two ancillary systems that hospitals now use to save X-ray, CT, MRI and other images of the body.I was a medical physics major w/ a minor in computer vision technology. As a point, your senior project will get you into the door. And believe it or not, for many IT pros, that senior project will be relevant for alteast 5 years in you ever get laid off or leave your job. I still have potential employers asking about that project and I graduate (BS, Applied Physics) in 2000. Having said that, I would suggest doing a subject that you would tinker with even if your diploma didn't depend on it. That will make the long hours in the lab pass by alot better. For me, I chose my project b/c I worked in the Comp Vision lab as a gofer/ assistant for 2 years. I was already familiar w/ the research, so I didn't mind long dry papers on energy functionals, computational hemodynamics and edge detection theory.
Dude, don't wast your time on Naderites, because they're just as zealous and out of touch as Right Wing Christian lunatics who think that God talks to Bush.
I brought this in the Nader Factor. The Naderites are in many ways, just as dangerous as the Bush followers. The fact that so many Naderites are ready to play loose with the electoral process and couldn't give a damn if the Chimp from Texas gets back into office should tell that this is all ego and not about progress. Hopefully, REAL progressive won't take their fantasy island attitude.
BTW, I am my own candidate. I'm actually running for local office. Where the REAL GP candidate, Cobb, is encouraging Greens to get involve locally, Nader's distracting local progressives from doing things that are meaningful.
Why don't you use your eloquence to attack Bush instead of Nader?
Because the Article is about Nader, not Bush. Believe me, I've become famous in my hometown (and amongst my Repub friends) more my absolute loathing of Furer Bush and the Far Right.
However, the attitude of Nader and his ardent followers are similar to that of a cult. They're no different than the right wing fundy Xians that scary almost everyone, left and right. If Nader and his acolytes were so concerned about democracy for the people, they would focus on getting local progressive in to one party towns. Get a Green and/or a reform on the school board in the democratic-strangleholds called NE college towns or on bastions of Republican power in middle America.
No, this about egoism and puritanical fanatism. The problems is that Nader and his followers share many of the scary qualities that make Bush and his gang to evil.
You read his words, I've worked with him and heard him speak as well as read his words. Yes, I have read "unsafe at any speed", as well "no contest" the Ralph Nader Reader and "Crashing the Party". I've also worked with staffers that he would call at midnight over the Western Conference Championships a few years back. I never said Ralph's issues are bad, I'm saying that he's not the man to carry them. Go check out http://realchange.org/ to lay out exactly what my gripes are. - Cappa - Cappa
Yes, I know. Blame on Opera. For some reason it doesn't publish very well.
I didn't say that there weren't scarier things out there.......it's just that Nader is rather scary.
Wow, that's the sentiment of far too many people. Its this overall idea of selfish and self-interest that make people like Bush and Kerry electable. Is that kind of think that makes guys like Nader and Cobb laughable, although they are probably the more sober voices in politics. Here's a reality check....we are not the only people on the planet and its our biological responsibility to maintain a stable environment for the survival our our species. Almost all major religious and philosophical ideologies share a common strand of good stewardship for future generations. Yeah, you don't have kids. So what?! You're going to leave this pigsty of a planet to someone else's offspring b/c they don't share your DNA?! Damn, we're truly are a selfish generation!!
I support third parties and fully believe that the only way to take out the two headed hydra that dominates DC is to run non-conventional candidates against them. However, Nader is just as scary, if not scarier than wack jobs like Buchannan and Perot. Nader has alot of ideas that I agree with. But honestly, he has the kind divine authoratian streak that make many slashdotters question our current pResident's sanity. My problem with Nader's run isn't that he'll take votes from Kerry, actually. Its the fact that Nader and his followers are puritanical ideologues convinced wholeheartedly of their own greatness. The fact that Smirk getting back into office doesn't scare them should send chills up the spine of any sane or rational progressive. The scarier problem would be if these freaks ever came to power. One of my biggest fears with Nader is not whether or not Bush wins...its the eerie notion of Nader a president. It would the bizarre bastard child of force-fed political correctness, 1950's style social graces and left-wing Fascism that will define a Nader presidency. Remember that crap ass movie "Demolition Man"? Remember the vegan, androgynous wimp world that they future was? There was no meat, rock music or profanity or sex. Im a vegan and I would cringe at the type of world. This is the kind of whacked out world would be a political wet dream from people like Nader. Talking to a lot of Naderites, there's an eerie dictatorial streak within them. They think just because they may be right, they can shoehorn and ram their ideas down peoples throats. Seeing as many of these guys think Communist Russia wasn't that bad doesn't surprise me. I asked a fellow Green and ardent Naderite how does Nader expect to pass all of his more whacked out notions (like banning video games) without the support of Congress. He said without blinking an eye that Ralph could just pass everything as an executive order. Isn't that the kind of tyrannical bullshit that they get all pissed about with Bush? Its fine for Nader to rule by fiat because "he fights for the people"? Come on guys, lay off the weed! We agree on one point, if Bush gets elected, no Republican would be able to seek office for next 20-30 years, if the nation survives that long afterward. If Nader, or anyone like him, were to get into the drivers seat, he'll set our agenda back twice as far. Even the national Green Parties (they are technically two) told Nader to take a hike. Why? Because Nader basically felt that somehow the GP needed him, He calls us political immature because we as a party had the audacity to nominate an actual Green for president. He didn't notice that Greens are officially the nation's third largest political party and are growing in spite of him. I'm a Green and will continue to be one. But my biggest pet peeves in politics are stubbornness and arrogance. Nader's a threat because he would put Bush back into office. But I would argue Ralph Nader would be just as scary, if not scarier, if he were in power A REAL Green