You can't? I'm sure I've been told oodles of times on here that software will do just that, that with just a few more programmers, we can fix problems caused by people. See self-driving car, security software of various ilks, the latest and greatest OS from whomever, and so on.
I've thought about how to lower the bias inherit when selecting people and the only way to at least give everyone an equal chance at getting an interview would be to cover the applicant's name.
This won't entirely remove bias as one could list involvement in the Republican Women's Swimming Club which obviously suggests a sex bias, but since many places require one to jump through hoops just to submit your information, you can limit the bias this way.
Have users copy and paste their information into a generic form. Software weeds out the qualified people first because they're not SEO experts and from the remaining people the only information which is given to a real person is the applicant's job experience. No identification of any kind is passed on.
From that, whomever is closest to the actual price without going over is called in to be interviewed with HR doing the calling so the people who will do the interview won't know if it's male or female. Only when the person shows up do the interviewers find out the gender.
Obviously there will still be bias, but this would significantly cut down on that since only the person's experience would be known and acted on.
This may be true except the doctors at the hospital where he was treated said that in addition to the bullets in him, there were signs consistent with an explosive device being used on his body.
I.e. he was shot by police and tried to blow himself up but apparently failed.
While the press release for Leap doesn't go into specifics, I can only imagine how bad HP will screw this up like they've done with their printer drivers. They haven't bothered to give you real drivers, just some generic universal drivers which, pointedly, sucks. Even for their newest printers, you get only a Universal driver. I guess they need to pay all those executives who keep halving the stock price every few years the big bonuses they've come to expect rather than invest in producing the software.
Not to mention the new interface on their printers, like Windows 7, make you jump through more menu selections to accomplish simple tasks. And like Windows 7, the interface is slower as are the start up times.
If this is the way HP is going to go, I forsee a very bleak future for them.
since the US education system doesn't seem to provide them but focuses on burger flippers and waitresses instead.
So that's why the rest of the world sends their students to the U.S., to get an education in burger flipping or waitressing.
The issue, for the most part, isn't that the educational system doesn't teach, it's that employers think someone straight out of college should magically have 10 years experience in coding in five different languages and know all the intimate details of their systems without ever having worked there.
This same narrow-minded idea applies to other fields as well. Employers think people absorb experience through osmosis rather than actually doing and so never bother training someone. Which means, of course, that the person can't get the experience they want/need to progress and are stuck because they can't go out and buy a $10K piece of software to work on at home or a multi-million dollar piece of equipment to practice on.
It is not the responsibility of the educational system to give someone the exact skills necessary that an employer is looking for. The goal is to provide someone with a rounded education so they can apply knowledge from various areas to complete their job. Once the person goes to the college, then they concentrate in their chosen field though again, they may not get the exact skills an employer is looking for but something close.
If you think someone should be trained to do a specific job, that's call a technical school and they do exist, but that is not where the majority of people get their education. If you want to go down that route, then we can abandon the entire educational system and have the employers dictate what someone needs to learn to get a job.
Having a television antenna is every American's right.
Fox and Univision aren't quibbling with that part. You can have any antenna you want. They just don't have to grant you access through that antenna since they're the ones who have paid for access to the programs and then redistribute them to those who pay.
The IRS publication has this to say about fringe benefits (and you were correct, up to a $245 allowance):
Any fringe benefit you provide is taxable and must be included in the recipient's pay unless the law specifically excludes it. Section 2 discusses the exclusions that apply to certain fringe benefits. Any benefit not excluded under the rules discussed in section 2 is taxable....
If the recipient of a taxable fringe benefit is your employee, the benefit is subject to employment taxes and must be reported on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. However, you can use special rules to withhold, deposit, and report the employment taxes. These rules are discussed in section 4.
It should be noted that in the above publication, meals on business premises are discussed and if they meet certain requirements, then the meal is not considered taxable to the employee.
My employer also provides me with free water, electricity, heating, cooling, shelter from rain, several computers with which I do my work, etc.
Those are considered part of the operations of the company. The parking space is separate. You getting the benefit of free parking is somewhat like goodwill (in the business sense).
With the health care requirement shoved down our throats, there is discussion if the employer-paid portion of healthcare should be considered a taxable event. The employer pays part of your health care, which, like free parking, is a benefit to you because you are not paying it.
Technically, if you get free parking from your employee (i.e. you don't pay to park at a parking garage because they pay for the spot), that is considered a taxable event. You are supposed to report that on your taxes.
This would be a similar event. You are benefiting by your employer covering the cost.
Whether the final ruling on this matter is considered the same remains to be seen.
Abbas has repeatedly offered the following to Israel to settle things once and for all:
A two-state solution marked by the 1967 borders, East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and a cessation by Israel of building settlements on Palestinian lands. In exchange for that, complete and unequivocal peace.
To date, Israel has rejected all offers and continues to confiscate Palestinian lands which it then builds subsidized (by U.S. tax dollars) housing, continues to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem despite the people having been there since before Israel existed, denies Palestinians building permits in East Jerusalem, turns a blind eye towards violence against Palestinians by Israelis while going full bore against Palestinians who so much as give a dirty look at an Israeli, all the while claiming, "But we've been persecuted for so long! We're the victims!"
Certainly, groups such as Hezbollah will never accept peace with Israel, but they're not the issue. You want peace, get off the Palestinian land, let them manage their own country and borders and you'll be amazed at what can happen. Until Israel stops obstructing the peace process, there can be no peace.
people with no internet connection, he suggested that they should get one, as it is 'awesome.'
Just because you make $100K+/year and live in an area which has decent broadband doesn't mean the rest of world does. When you make $40K/year, have a mortgage payment, maybe a kid or two, car loans, maybe student loans, having to pay anywhere from $70/month or higher for slow broadband is not high on ones priority.
This dismissive attitude, "I have it so it must be the best thing in the world!" is symptomatic of the tech culture. People who are glued to their screens as they check their Twitter feeds every ten seconds, Facebook updates every 30, and can't wait to stand in line for the latest and greatest gadget which will works.01% faster than the last gadget you bought six months ago, live in a wonderland world. They have no clue, nor understanding, of people who don't care one wit about tweeting their latest shit or posting their latest cute puppy picture.
It may be hard for those who are heavy tech users to understand, but there are large and vast numbers of people on this planet who don't give a flying fuck about what you're doing. Certainly some are technophobic, but a large portion of those people just don't care. The treadmill of upgrading equipment, having to figure out how to use the latest and greatest piece of crapware that some developer, or company, thought was the be all and end all, the relentless drone of having to be always connected or you're not living life to its fullest, doesn't appeal to them. They want to know: how is this useful to them (aside from online banking or research), yet no one can give them a good answer.
The usual response is something along the lines of, "You can keep in contact with your friends!" or, "You can find out where to eat before you get to some place." I guess it never occurs to people who have grown up on the pablum of technology that if one wants to communicate with friends they don't need to tweet, "We're coming over in 10 minutes! LOL" to communicate. A simple phone call or prearranged meeting is all that is necessary.
Further, one doesn't have to plan out where they're going to eat when they visit a place. Exploring can be fun in and of itself. Besides, if one wants to know where to eat, they can ask someone at a gas station or on the street. Granted, this means having to TALK to a LIVE HUMAN BEING, but that is one of the dangers we all must navigate.
If you don't get why people may not have an internet connection, let alone broadband, Mr. Orth, then that says all one needs to know about you and your company. You live in a fantasy land with only the barest of tendrils touching reality. Your deluded sense of self-importance is a shining example of what is wrong in tech, yet its lesson will go unheeded because if you're not connected, if you don't have the latest and greatest gadget, if you're not spending every waking moment staring at 3" screen, then you're a loser, right Mr. Orth?
RAW format digital is more or less the 21st Century equivalent of Kodachrome,
In what universe is digital format equivalent to Kodachrome? There is an exhibit at the National Archives of photos from the 70s, all of which were done on Kodachrome. The color saturation, gradation and tonality are far beyond anything digital can do.
Unless you're looking at a 1G file size, digital will never be equivalent to Kodachrome.
If people like this make the conscious decision to annoy and possibly wreck other people's lives just for some cash, why should we care about them and what happens to them? Obviously they have made the choice to not live within the common bounds of society and instead have taken to theft and possibly destruction.
What harm can there be by getting rid of such people rather than having to constantly spend our time and money to undo what they have done?
Here is what the National Physical Laboratory (UK) has to say on the subject:
Another convention sometimes used is that, since 12 noon is by definition neither ante meridiem (before noon) nor post meridiem (after noon), then 12 a.m. refers to midnight at the start of the specified day (00:00) and 12 p.m. to midnight at the end of that day (24:00). Given this ambiguity, the terms 12 a.m. and 12 p.m. should be avoided.
BBC America has been running articles this past week examining subway systems from various parts of the world. The first one I saw was Moscow and its near art museum-like stations.
Today they did South Korea (a system only 14 years old) and the British Tube (the oldest in the world). The South Koreans pay, roughly, $1 (said the news woman) to ride whereas the Tube will set one back, roughly, $7.
The New York subway is only $2.75.
Just some insights from a reliable source to compare price, service and how its run.
So you're saying it's a good thing that so many people are strung out on drugs and unable to be productive that the taxpayers have to pick up the tab to try and break their habit so they can be productive again.
And this is different from taxpayers paying to put criminals behind bars, how?
While the bunker itself is designed to withstand a nuclear blast, the doors are the weak point.
A thermal lance can cut through the door while also able to make a nice hold in the concrete walls into which explosives of various types can be implanted.
As others have said, cut the communication and electrical lines and let them fend for themselves. They may have food and fuel, but they can't last forever.
On second thought, cut the electricity and communication, then pile tons of rubble in front of the doors to prevent them from coming out once they exhaust their supplies.
It's a stupid move that really could have dire consequences, so I'm ok with offenders going to jail. Eventually the word will get around.
Sort of like robbery, rape, assault, fraud, and a whole host of other crimes, right?
Or did you mean when someone installs their computer equipment in someone elses closet, tries to hide that equipment as they suck down reams of information, then tries to give that information away because they felt is was their right to do so?
if you want a free alternative, I imagine you could volunteer to help maintain the site... "Its Open Source" doesnt magically generate people to do fixes and maintenance, you know.
HERESY! Burn them at the stake!
Everyone knows there is no cost associated with software. Charging for something you produce is just evil capitalism. With the wonders of free software, everything miraculously springs forth by sheer will, not through money and maintenance. People create this stuff through their own generosity without regard to costs since there are none.
That's why there's no problem with stealing someone's work. Since there was no cost involved with producing it, there's no need to pay someone for their work.
Slashdot Mirror
You can't fix a people problem with technology.
You can't? I'm sure I've been told oodles of times on here that software will do just that, that with just a few more programmers, we can fix problems caused by people. See self-driving car, security software of various ilks, the latest and greatest OS from whomever, and so on.
I've thought about how to lower the bias inherit when selecting people and the only way to at least give everyone an equal chance at getting an interview would be to cover the applicant's name.
This won't entirely remove bias as one could list involvement in the Republican Women's Swimming Club which obviously suggests a sex bias, but since many places require one to jump through hoops just to submit your information, you can limit the bias this way.
Have users copy and paste their information into a generic form. Software weeds out the qualified people first because they're not SEO experts and from the remaining people the only information which is given to a real person is the applicant's job experience. No identification of any kind is passed on.
From that, whomever is closest to the actual price without going over is called in to be interviewed with HR doing the calling so the people who will do the interview won't know if it's male or female. Only when the person shows up do the interviewers find out the gender.
Obviously there will still be bias, but this would significantly cut down on that since only the person's experience would be known and acted on.
This may be true except the doctors at the hospital where he was treated said that in addition to the bullets in him, there were signs consistent with an explosive device being used on his body.
I.e. he was shot by police and tried to blow himself up but apparently failed.
While the press release for Leap doesn't go into specifics, I can only imagine how bad HP will screw this up like they've done with their printer drivers. They haven't bothered to give you real drivers, just some generic universal drivers which, pointedly, sucks. Even for their newest printers, you get only a Universal driver. I guess they need to pay all those executives who keep halving the stock price every few years the big bonuses they've come to expect rather than invest in producing the software.
Not to mention the new interface on their printers, like Windows 7, make you jump through more menu selections to accomplish simple tasks. And like Windows 7, the interface is slower as are the start up times.
If this is the way HP is going to go, I forsee a very bleak future for them.
since the US education system doesn't seem to provide them but focuses on burger flippers and waitresses instead.
So that's why the rest of the world sends their students to the U.S., to get an education in burger flipping or waitressing.
The issue, for the most part, isn't that the educational system doesn't teach, it's that employers think someone straight out of college should magically have 10 years experience in coding in five different languages and know all the intimate details of their systems without ever having worked there.
This same narrow-minded idea applies to other fields as well. Employers think people absorb experience through osmosis rather than actually doing and so never bother training someone. Which means, of course, that the person can't get the experience they want/need to progress and are stuck because they can't go out and buy a $10K piece of software to work on at home or a multi-million dollar piece of equipment to practice on.
It is not the responsibility of the educational system to give someone the exact skills necessary that an employer is looking for. The goal is to provide someone with a rounded education so they can apply knowledge from various areas to complete their job. Once the person goes to the college, then they concentrate in their chosen field though again, they may not get the exact skills an employer is looking for but something close.
If you think someone should be trained to do a specific job, that's call a technical school and they do exist, but that is not where the majority of people get their education. If you want to go down that route, then we can abandon the entire educational system and have the employers dictate what someone needs to learn to get a job.
Microsoft put out years ago which killed ones network connection.
The solution? Go back to Microsoft's site to get the updated patch.
Erm, yeah. Great idea. You kill my network connection then want me to go back to your site to fix the issue.
So much for the vaunted "best and brightest" following standard project processes such as TESTING.
Having a television antenna is every American's right.
Fox and Univision aren't quibbling with that part. You can have any antenna you want. They just don't have to grant you access through that antenna since they're the ones who have paid for access to the programs and then redistribute them to those who pay.
Any fringe benefit you provide is taxable and must be included in the recipient's pay unless the law specifically excludes it. Section 2 discusses the exclusions that apply to certain fringe benefits. Any benefit not excluded under the rules discussed in section 2 is taxable.
If the recipient of a taxable fringe benefit is your employee, the benefit is subject to employment taxes and must be reported on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. However, you can use special rules to withhold, deposit, and report the employment taxes. These rules are discussed in section 4.
IRS ruling.
It should be noted that in the above publication, meals on business premises are discussed and if they meet certain requirements, then the meal is not considered taxable to the employee.
My employer also provides me with free water, electricity, heating, cooling, shelter from rain, several computers with which I do my work, etc.
Those are considered part of the operations of the company. The parking space is separate. You getting the benefit of free parking is somewhat like goodwill (in the business sense).
With the health care requirement shoved down our throats, there is discussion if the employer-paid portion of healthcare should be considered a taxable event. The employer pays part of your health care, which, like free parking, is a benefit to you because you are not paying it.
Technically, if you get free parking from your employee (i.e. you don't pay to park at a parking garage because they pay for the spot), that is considered a taxable event. You are supposed to report that on your taxes.
This would be a similar event. You are benefiting by your employer covering the cost.
Whether the final ruling on this matter is considered the same remains to be seen.
will lead to sloppy software being written.
As opposed to what is being written now, right?
Abbas has repeatedly offered the following to Israel to settle things once and for all:
A two-state solution marked by the 1967 borders, East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and a cessation by Israel of building settlements on Palestinian lands. In exchange for that, complete and unequivocal peace.
To date, Israel has rejected all offers and continues to confiscate Palestinian lands which it then builds subsidized (by U.S. tax dollars) housing, continues to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem despite the people having been there since before Israel existed, denies Palestinians building permits in East Jerusalem, turns a blind eye towards violence against Palestinians by Israelis while going full bore against Palestinians who so much as give a dirty look at an Israeli, all the while claiming, "But we've been persecuted for so long! We're the victims!"
Certainly, groups such as Hezbollah will never accept peace with Israel, but they're not the issue. You want peace, get off the Palestinian land, let them manage their own country and borders and you'll be amazed at what can happen. Until Israel stops obstructing the peace process, there can be no peace.
people with no internet connection, he suggested that they should get one, as it is 'awesome.'
.01% faster than the last gadget you bought six months ago, live in a wonderland world. They have no clue, nor understanding, of people who don't care one wit about tweeting their latest shit or posting their latest cute puppy picture.
Just because you make $100K+/year and live in an area which has decent broadband doesn't mean the rest of world does. When you make $40K/year, have a mortgage payment, maybe a kid or two, car loans, maybe student loans, having to pay anywhere from $70/month or higher for slow broadband is not high on ones priority.
This dismissive attitude, "I have it so it must be the best thing in the world!" is symptomatic of the tech culture. People who are glued to their screens as they check their Twitter feeds every ten seconds, Facebook updates every 30, and can't wait to stand in line for the latest and greatest gadget which will works
It may be hard for those who are heavy tech users to understand, but there are large and vast numbers of people on this planet who don't give a flying fuck about what you're doing. Certainly some are technophobic, but a large portion of those people just don't care. The treadmill of upgrading equipment, having to figure out how to use the latest and greatest piece of crapware that some developer, or company, thought was the be all and end all, the relentless drone of having to be always connected or you're not living life to its fullest, doesn't appeal to them. They want to know: how is this useful to them (aside from online banking or research), yet no one can give them a good answer.
The usual response is something along the lines of, "You can keep in contact with your friends!" or, "You can find out where to eat before you get to some place." I guess it never occurs to people who have grown up on the pablum of technology that if one wants to communicate with friends they don't need to tweet, "We're coming over in 10 minutes! LOL" to communicate. A simple phone call or prearranged meeting is all that is necessary.
Further, one doesn't have to plan out where they're going to eat when they visit a place. Exploring can be fun in and of itself. Besides, if one wants to know where to eat, they can ask someone at a gas station or on the street. Granted, this means having to TALK to a LIVE HUMAN BEING, but that is one of the dangers we all must navigate.
If you don't get why people may not have an internet connection, let alone broadband, Mr. Orth, then that says all one needs to know about you and your company. You live in a fantasy land with only the barest of tendrils touching reality. Your deluded sense of self-importance is a shining example of what is wrong in tech, yet its lesson will go unheeded because if you're not connected, if you don't have the latest and greatest gadget, if you're not spending every waking moment staring at 3" screen, then you're a loser, right Mr. Orth?
RAW format digital is more or less the 21st Century equivalent of Kodachrome,
In what universe is digital format equivalent to Kodachrome? There is an exhibit at the National Archives of photos from the 70s, all of which were done on Kodachrome. The color saturation, gradation and tonality are far beyond anything digital can do.
Unless you're looking at a 1G file size, digital will never be equivalent to Kodachrome.
they're going to let POCKETKNIVES back onto planes?
I never carried a knife with me on the few times I flew (pre 9/11). I just carried my stainless steel pen. Which they still let you take on board.
If people like this make the conscious decision to annoy and possibly wreck other people's lives just for some cash, why should we care about them and what happens to them? Obviously they have made the choice to not live within the common bounds of society and instead have taken to theft and possibly destruction.
What harm can there be by getting rid of such people rather than having to constantly spend our time and money to undo what they have done?
Read why, straight from the source.
Here is what the National Physical Laboratory (UK) has to say on the subject:
This is what the NIST (USNO) have to say in regards to 'Are noon and midnight referred to as 12 a.m. or 12 p.m.?':
BBC America has been running articles this past week examining subway systems from various parts of the world. The first one I saw was Moscow and its near art museum-like stations.
Today they did South Korea (a system only 14 years old) and the British Tube (the oldest in the world). The South Koreans pay, roughly, $1 (said the news woman) to ride whereas the Tube will set one back, roughly, $7.
The New York subway is only $2.75.
Just some insights from a reliable source to compare price, service and how its run.
There is no such thing as 12 PM (or AM). It is either 12 noon or 12 midnight.
While the article clears up the timing, somewhat, the article title is wrong and should be corrected (HA!).
So you're saying it's a good thing that so many people are strung out on drugs and unable to be productive that the taxpayers have to pick up the tab to try and break their habit so they can be productive again.
And this is different from taxpayers paying to put criminals behind bars, how?
While the bunker itself is designed to withstand a nuclear blast, the doors are the weak point.
A thermal lance can cut through the door while also able to make a nice hold in the concrete walls into which explosives of various types can be implanted.
As others have said, cut the communication and electrical lines and let them fend for themselves. They may have food and fuel, but they can't last forever.
On second thought, cut the electricity and communication, then pile tons of rubble in front of the doors to prevent them from coming out once they exhaust their supplies.
It's a stupid move that really could have dire consequences, so I'm ok with offenders going to jail. Eventually the word will get around.
Sort of like robbery, rape, assault, fraud, and a whole host of other crimes, right?
Or did you mean when someone installs their computer equipment in someone elses closet, tries to hide that equipment as they suck down reams of information, then tries to give that information away because they felt is was their right to do so?
The known vectors are finite.
Yes, the number equals 1: human.
Fix that attack vector and you won't have anything to worry about.
if you want a free alternative, I imagine you could volunteer to help maintain the site ... "Its Open Source" doesnt magically generate people to do fixes and maintenance, you know.
HERESY! Burn them at the stake!
Everyone knows there is no cost associated with software. Charging for something you produce is just evil capitalism. With the wonders of free software, everything miraculously springs forth by sheer will, not through money and maintenance. People create this stuff through their own generosity without regard to costs since there are none.
That's why there's no problem with stealing someone's work. Since there was no cost involved with producing it, there's no need to pay someone for their work.
we identify all the Semitic users. That way the anti-Semitic people will know who to direct their tweets to. ~