You make an excellent point- item 1 touches on what is probably the biggest problem in public education: Schools are not producing productive citizens. Upon graduation from High School, anyone should be able to go out and get a job that will support him. If someone wants to enter a more complex field (and perhaps make more money), then that person should take advanced training.
Right now the economy and the school system are both geared against this kind of vocational education.
Anyone who is offered a job has the right to negotiate their salary. If you don't feel you are being offered just compensation in monetary, social, hierarchal, or other terms, then you have the right to walk away from the offer and find someplace else.
Employer power is great - but they need you as much as you need them. If you are a quality professional, you will make yourself indispensable. The government will currently protect your basic rights such as making sure you're not shackled to a table, the emergency exits actually work, and you're getting paid as specified in your employment contract. Personally I'd rather not see the government go beyond the very basics such as making sure everyone is obeying their contracts and laws.
People would just start clicking the OK button every time. Think about how often most end users read the EULA, or notice a change to the welcome message/MOTD. However, putting the reply-to-all button in an inconvenient place (like under 6 submenus) might help.
I take issue with the fact that you're docking people for showing up to an interview in a suit and tie. I am a professional geek and will regularly dress up for interviews -- the reason for this is because it is showing respect for the potential employer.
Although it is good form to ask what the dress code for the interview is, wearing a tie is certainly not to cover up lack of skills. If you're looking to have a geek culture, then just talk to the applicant for about ten minutes. Once they get comfortable, start throwing jargon in. See if they can keep up. Also see how they interact with other members of the team.
I've had some technical interviews go on for HOURS while techs throw the weirdest questions they can think of at me. And yes, some of those times I have been the best dressed person in the room.
You're also overlooking the fact that many of us geeks generally don't know how to dress because we don't really care. Before an important interview, we'll usually ask someone with an iota of fashion sense, who probably has a more conventional occupation and is therefore subjected to more traditional social pressures in their line of work. So they're going to tell the geek how to "dress for success," as they subscribe to the theory themselves.
Usually a few well placed questions on the phone can determine if an applicant is actually qualified and worth spending time with an in person interview on.
I agree with this.
Any professor who makes the effort to read some of the work his students are producing will almost immediately catch most attempts at plagiarism. If the writing style drastically changes, or an example is strangely well rounded but completely out of left field (like another professor came up with it and they copied the notes,) then it bears questioning.
When I was in college a number of fellow students got questioned for two minutes before class -- nothing formal -- and the professor would be able to tell off the bat if the student knew the subject matter or not.
Usually the worst cases of plagiarism occur when it becomes obvious that the professor is not doing their job -- they have TA's doing all of the work.
Your analogy would work a little bit better with some adjustments.
if someone breaks into my home with a a crowbar, a set of lock picks, and a brick, then I wouldn't be surprised.
However if someone breaks into a military base or a bank with the same set of tools and expertise, then it's a different story.
there's a different reasonable expectation of security among different types of building, be it a normal residence, a military installation, or a financial institution.
The same is true of their computer systems. If the military has a very weak security implementation in ANY area, then a vast amount of money is put at risk.
We also let our citizenry eat loads of garbage food and do plenty of other self-destructive things, yet every single voice says its our freedom to do so.
You are incorrect. Multiple cities are enacting bans on transfat cooking oils, including New York City and Chicago.
The problem is that when push comes to shove, most Americans want their government to bail them out.
No insurance or savings and you have a life threatening illness? Medicare/Medicaid will help.
Completely out of money? Up until about 4 years ago, you declared bankruptcy.
As long as the US government is expected to be fiscally responsible for the financial and physical health, we can only expect the nanny state to get worse.
Extremely important.Nobody looks good when their information is hacked.
The main difference between the government and a corporation is a corporation can lose customers and die rather quickly.
This is a public corporation. They're in this to make money. If the rest of the industry can do this, then so can Google. Loyalty on either side of the employer relationship means nothing. I worked as a contractor (glorified temp) for a well known tech megacorp for years. If I learned anything in that time, it's that this trend is only going to get worse until something happens that causes a serious shortage of qualified people. Such an event would be serious labor law (as well as exchange rate) changes in India, Brazil, Eastern Europe and China. Only then will it swing so far into favor of tech workers that we'll be able to start demanding things again, like job security. Unfortunately, that's unlikely. My best advice would be to hone your skills and continue learning so you become an invaluable resource at your current or future company. The upside to it is, if you're in this industry because you genuinely enjoy your skill, then this should not be a big change.
Interestingly, that very debate came up a few years ago in the US when they finally lifted the 55MPH national speed limit.
In New Jersey, the "compromise" to push the new 65MPH state speed limit through was for all fines to be DOUBLED -
Additionally, there's a lot of selective enforcement here in the states (especially the northeast.) There's always a sharp increase in the number of speed traps (and to a lesser extent, DWI checkpoints)at the end of the month for police to meet their quotas (performance goals).
Many towns and cities out here are making a signifigant amount of their annual income by imposing fairly unreasonable speed limits on roads. I've seen four lane roads with no intersections on straighaways marked for 35MPH with a cop car hiding in the bushes.
As long as the government makes it a profit making venture, then the laws aren't being used to govern, which makes them worthless.
or how about the paramedics deciding on which neigborhoods to avoid. Or hospitals turning away patients because they were of the wrong religion.
Don't they do this already? Through taxes, certain neighborhoods will get less police protection, worse ambulance service and there will be worse hospital care in the immediate area. Go to a few inner city hospitals around the US in less the prosperous areas. That was always one of the big pushes for people moving from one place to another: better education for their kids.
Also, although many US ambulance corps are private companies, it still comes right down to how much they're getting paid and the people who are willing to work in the less then stellar areas.
I'm not sure where I stand on vouchers anymore... I tend to have a lot more faith in private industry to produce results. I just don't think that they'll be the result that we'll want. It has a danger of breaking into a million niche schools -- just like linux (ex: Ubutnu Christian Edition.)
This is the problem -- the point of training kids for the real world isn't the same as taking them places to have a good time. It's about taking them places that they HAVE to be and will most likely be miserable at for at least part of the time. School is a perfect example: Most people are absolutely miserable through at least part of secondary school. Hormones are raging, social circles are among the most vicious and hurtful that they will ever be, and to top it off, those involved are by definition the most emotionally vulnerable that they will ever be. Real world work will make everyone absolutely miserable at times, especially those first few jobs where you don't exactly have the corner office. Further, in social and romantic relationships, people need practical problem solving skills and need to be able to cope with the fact that everything isn't always going to go as planned. These are not skills that can be taught, but must be learned. These skills are necessary to the real world.
The thing is -- I might be wrong here though -- synthohol was never even MENTIONED outside of TNG. They were always drinking Raq de Ginos on the Defiant/various blown up runabouts.
And it seems unlikely on Voyager, since for the most part Janeway made such a big deal of running a tight ship whenever possible. In one episode (ep 88 - Vis A Vis) Tom Paris is able gets somewhat drunk off of alcoholic drinks that he replicates in the mess hall, and Janeway approaches him about it later (he then strangles her.)
I think it might be one of those TNG things - like the men in skirts.
Synthohol also went away after TNG -- in Voyager they explicitly mentioned getting alcoholic drinks from the replicators, and in DS9 Quark would occasionally use the federation replicators to make drinks when his cardassian made one broke.
The problem is that with an overabundance of zombie machines on their network, or worse being the target of a DDoS attack, the ISP risks being unable to provide uptime and bandwidth.
1) Not everyone can get out of working low end jobs. Manufacturing is gone or seeping away from much of the north eastern US. Mom and pop stores are going out of business.
People become economically entrapped in areas. Without the aptitude, opportunity and desire to learn something new and higher paying, they won't.
2) Walmart moves everything in the store every six months, and does a full top to bottom remod every couple of years, depending on what the store can afford. This is a proven method of getting people to buy more. People like me might stop going to walmart out of sheer frustration from the "shopping experience," but the vast majority of consumers don't process that their favorite products have been moved or just don't care enough to change their shopping and spending habits.
3) It's not fun to work at Walmart. Jobs in Walmart (really any low end retailer) are not clearly to help the customers, but rather to stock shelves or do whatever your manager tells you to.
4) Walmart hires the lowest common demoninator. They consider employees (barely) warm bodies and treats them as such. There are/have been more then a few lawsuits against WalMart regarding some rather large scale violations of labor laws and immigration laws.
The DOW isn't exactly a sound indicator of the US economy... if it ever was.
The numbers are just that - numbers. The Dow can hit 10,000 or 2000, because what's being measured are those few indexed companies. The number is realitively meaningless except as an indicator of a major extremely short term trend.
Personally (on the US stock markets) I'll follow the NASDAQ as the major stock exchange for indication of what the market as a whole is doing.
It's NOT a stunning victory for the establishment. It's common sense that this can, does, and will continue to happen as email and electronic formats become the predominant form of official communication.
Google is complying with a lawful legal order.
Anyone who has an ounce of experience maintaining a database knows that you NEVER delete anything forever.
If something comes up... like say a crime is committed, then you have a table of deleted items that's never purged until it's offloaded someplace.
And then you keep the transaction logs in another location, just in case you need to track someone.
The idea that you get a free email account from a massive search engine and then would get total privacy? It's laughable.
If you want security, you as a consumer should use the free POP mail account that every ISP I've encountered in the last five years gives customers. Then delete emails off the servers.
If you're really concerned about the security, encrypt your email, or better yet encrypt your emails and have your own server.
My point is, you get what you pay for.
The theory of Jedi + Sith being created is almost EXACTLY the story of the transformers, where the Autobots were designed to protect and the Decepticons were designed to expand. Eventually war broke out. Truthfully I really didnt like the fact that Lucas decided to add some sort of physical process to the whole force concept, but I suppose a beurocracy couldn't exist without logging technology of some sort, so it was a nessesary evil.
The company I work at has it's global IT support division at about 90% contractor right now -- the way it works is you end up working for a contracting company, and you become a glorified temp in the eyes of the company in which you do the work for.
The good: You can get your foot in the door, theoretically. My company is a special case, as they just started converting contractors now after a 4 year stallout.
The bad: you are, for all intents and purposes, a temp. Stability? You might get it. But that extra layer of protection with HR, where they have to have a reason for firing you-- or in many cases any kind of direct chain of command, is lost.
The mixed:
The job is good resume fodder, but you should continue looking for another job the minete you suspect something bad is coming down the line.
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You make an excellent point- item 1 touches on what is probably the biggest problem in public education: Schools are not producing productive citizens. Upon graduation from High School, anyone should be able to go out and get a job that will support him. If someone wants to enter a more complex field (and perhaps make more money), then that person should take advanced training. Right now the economy and the school system are both geared against this kind of vocational education.
Anyone who is offered a job has the right to negotiate their salary. If you don't feel you are being offered just compensation in monetary, social, hierarchal, or other terms, then you have the right to walk away from the offer and find someplace else. Employer power is great - but they need you as much as you need them. If you are a quality professional, you will make yourself indispensable. The government will currently protect your basic rights such as making sure you're not shackled to a table, the emergency exits actually work, and you're getting paid as specified in your employment contract. Personally I'd rather not see the government go beyond the very basics such as making sure everyone is obeying their contracts and laws.
People would just start clicking the OK button every time. Think about how often most end users read the EULA, or notice a change to the welcome message/MOTD. However, putting the reply-to-all button in an inconvenient place (like under 6 submenus) might help.
I take issue with the fact that you're docking people for showing up to an interview in a suit and tie. I am a professional geek and will regularly dress up for interviews -- the reason for this is because it is showing respect for the potential employer. Although it is good form to ask what the dress code for the interview is, wearing a tie is certainly not to cover up lack of skills. If you're looking to have a geek culture, then just talk to the applicant for about ten minutes. Once they get comfortable, start throwing jargon in. See if they can keep up. Also see how they interact with other members of the team. I've had some technical interviews go on for HOURS while techs throw the weirdest questions they can think of at me. And yes, some of those times I have been the best dressed person in the room. You're also overlooking the fact that many of us geeks generally don't know how to dress because we don't really care. Before an important interview, we'll usually ask someone with an iota of fashion sense, who probably has a more conventional occupation and is therefore subjected to more traditional social pressures in their line of work. So they're going to tell the geek how to "dress for success," as they subscribe to the theory themselves. Usually a few well placed questions on the phone can determine if an applicant is actually qualified and worth spending time with an in person interview on.
I agree with this. Any professor who makes the effort to read some of the work his students are producing will almost immediately catch most attempts at plagiarism. If the writing style drastically changes, or an example is strangely well rounded but completely out of left field (like another professor came up with it and they copied the notes,) then it bears questioning. When I was in college a number of fellow students got questioned for two minutes before class -- nothing formal -- and the professor would be able to tell off the bat if the student knew the subject matter or not. Usually the worst cases of plagiarism occur when it becomes obvious that the professor is not doing their job -- they have TA's doing all of the work.
Your analogy would work a little bit better with some adjustments. if someone breaks into my home with a a crowbar, a set of lock picks, and a brick, then I wouldn't be surprised. However if someone breaks into a military base or a bank with the same set of tools and expertise, then it's a different story. there's a different reasonable expectation of security among different types of building, be it a normal residence, a military installation, or a financial institution. The same is true of their computer systems. If the military has a very weak security implementation in ANY area, then a vast amount of money is put at risk.
Extremely important.Nobody looks good when their information is hacked. The main difference between the government and a corporation is a corporation can lose customers and die rather quickly.
This is a public corporation. They're in this to make money.
If the rest of the industry can do this, then so can Google.
Loyalty on either side of the employer relationship means nothing.
I worked as a contractor (glorified temp) for a well known tech megacorp for years. If I learned anything in that time, it's that this trend is only going to get worse until something happens that causes a serious shortage of qualified people. Such an event would be serious labor law (as well as exchange rate) changes in India, Brazil, Eastern Europe and China. Only then will it swing so far into favor of tech workers that we'll be able to start demanding things again, like job security.
Unfortunately, that's unlikely.
My best advice would be to hone your skills and continue learning so you become an invaluable resource at your current or future company. The upside to it is, if you're in this industry because you genuinely enjoy your skill, then this should not be a big change.
Interestingly, that very debate came up a few years ago in the US when they finally lifted the 55MPH national speed limit. In New Jersey, the "compromise" to push the new 65MPH state speed limit through was for all fines to be DOUBLED - Additionally, there's a lot of selective enforcement here in the states (especially the northeast.) There's always a sharp increase in the number of speed traps (and to a lesser extent, DWI checkpoints)at the end of the month for police to meet their quotas (performance goals). Many towns and cities out here are making a signifigant amount of their annual income by imposing fairly unreasonable speed limits on roads. I've seen four lane roads with no intersections on straighaways marked for 35MPH with a cop car hiding in the bushes. As long as the government makes it a profit making venture, then the laws aren't being used to govern, which makes them worthless.
This is the problem -- the point of training kids for the real world isn't the same as taking them places to have a good time. It's about taking them places that they HAVE to be and will most likely be miserable at for at least part of the time.
School is a perfect example: Most people are absolutely miserable through at least part of secondary school. Hormones are raging, social circles are among the most vicious and hurtful that they will ever be, and to top it off, those involved are by definition the most emotionally vulnerable that they will ever be.
Real world work will make everyone absolutely miserable at times, especially those first few jobs where you don't exactly have the corner office.
Further, in social and romantic relationships, people need practical problem solving skills and need to be able to cope with the fact that everything isn't always going to go as planned. These are not skills that can be taught, but must be learned.
These skills are necessary to the real world.
That all depends on what the future holds. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be munching on our Soylent Green and wonder where Grandpa is...
The thing is -- I might be wrong here though -- synthohol was never even MENTIONED outside of TNG. They were always drinking Raq de Ginos on the Defiant/various blown up runabouts. And it seems unlikely on Voyager, since for the most part Janeway made such a big deal of running a tight ship whenever possible. In one episode (ep 88 - Vis A Vis) Tom Paris is able gets somewhat drunk off of alcoholic drinks that he replicates in the mess hall, and Janeway approaches him about it later (he then strangles her.) I think it might be one of those TNG things - like the men in skirts.
Synthohol also went away after TNG -- in Voyager they explicitly mentioned getting alcoholic drinks from the replicators, and in DS9 Quark would occasionally use the federation replicators to make drinks when his cardassian made one broke.
The problem is that with an overabundance of zombie machines on their network, or worse being the target of a DDoS attack, the ISP risks being unable to provide uptime and bandwidth.
1) Not everyone can get out of working low end jobs. Manufacturing is gone or seeping away from much of the north eastern US. Mom and pop stores are going out of business. People become economically entrapped in areas. Without the aptitude, opportunity and desire to learn something new and higher paying, they won't. 2) Walmart moves everything in the store every six months, and does a full top to bottom remod every couple of years, depending on what the store can afford. This is a proven method of getting people to buy more. People like me might stop going to walmart out of sheer frustration from the "shopping experience," but the vast majority of consumers don't process that their favorite products have been moved or just don't care enough to change their shopping and spending habits. 3) It's not fun to work at Walmart. Jobs in Walmart (really any low end retailer) are not clearly to help the customers, but rather to stock shelves or do whatever your manager tells you to. 4) Walmart hires the lowest common demoninator. They consider employees (barely) warm bodies and treats them as such. There are/have been more then a few lawsuits against WalMart regarding some rather large scale violations of labor laws and immigration laws.
The DOW isn't exactly a sound indicator of the US economy... if it ever was. The numbers are just that - numbers. The Dow can hit 10,000 or 2000, because what's being measured are those few indexed companies. The number is realitively meaningless except as an indicator of a major extremely short term trend. Personally (on the US stock markets) I'll follow the NASDAQ as the major stock exchange for indication of what the market as a whole is doing.
It's NOT a stunning victory for the establishment. It's common sense that this can, does, and will continue to happen as email and electronic formats become the predominant form of official communication. Google is complying with a lawful legal order. Anyone who has an ounce of experience maintaining a database knows that you NEVER delete anything forever. If something comes up... like say a crime is committed, then you have a table of deleted items that's never purged until it's offloaded someplace. And then you keep the transaction logs in another location, just in case you need to track someone. The idea that you get a free email account from a massive search engine and then would get total privacy? It's laughable. If you want security, you as a consumer should use the free POP mail account that every ISP I've encountered in the last five years gives customers. Then delete emails off the servers. If you're really concerned about the security, encrypt your email, or better yet encrypt your emails and have your own server. My point is, you get what you pay for.
The theory of Jedi + Sith being created is almost EXACTLY the story of the transformers, where the Autobots were designed to protect and the Decepticons were designed to expand. Eventually war broke out.
Truthfully I really didnt like the fact that Lucas decided to add some sort of physical process to the whole force concept, but I suppose a beurocracy couldn't exist without logging technology of some sort, so it was a nessesary evil.
The company I work at has it's global IT support division at about 90% contractor right now -- the way it works is you end up working for a contracting company, and you become a glorified temp in the eyes of the company in which you do the work for. The good: You can get your foot in the door, theoretically. My company is a special case, as they just started converting contractors now after a 4 year stallout. The bad: you are, for all intents and purposes, a temp. Stability? You might get it. But that extra layer of protection with HR, where they have to have a reason for firing you-- or in many cases any kind of direct chain of command, is lost. The mixed: The job is good resume fodder, but you should continue looking for another job the minete you suspect something bad is coming down the line.