The NDA has been gone for quite some time now (3 weeks...? A month...? I forget exactly, it was before beta was even over). I can talk all I want about my experience in beta at this point. The NDA argument is a misnomer.
Seriously? It's "Largely unexplored"? I was in beta for half a year and that was short compared to some. I had about half a dozen max level characters during that time and I've done quests that don't even exist in the current build (because they were removed with often unfixable bugs effecting players). Plenty of people who were in beta longer then me even have certainly explored SW:ToR pretty darn thoroughly. I think 'game reviewers' are the only ones who haven't played more than a single beta weekend and so haven't explored it much at all. Plenty of players have been there and done that repeatedly.
While it may be easier if your male and white (Or Brahmin), I think you've missed the memo were ambitious women and minorities do actually steer large multinationals.... At least in North America and Europe. We just saw IBM's new CEO who is a woman, there was the much hated woman who was head of HP a couple CEO's ago, and those examples are just from the tech industry. Give it a decade and we may well find it odd that a man is the CEO of a large company.
As crazy as it sounds... My experience is that we do not generally have that in the US, though this may vary by state. Plenty of retail and even manufacturing companies only have to replace a defective item with something 'similar'. I know my parents TV died on them a few years back while under manufacturers warranty and they were told they could either get a nice shiny coupon used towards the purchase of a new TV (worth about ~$200 and theirs was an HDTV which costs ~$1000) or they could try the manufacturer (they went through the shop they bought it from first). The manufacturer in turn simply said that they could probably repair it, but costs would be involved to ship it to and from (It was one of the last gen of tube HDTV's, so this is a 150 pound tv). They chose the later, but the tv on return didn't work quite right (the sides of the picture when on were bowed in). This was deemed 'working acceptably' by the manufacturer. My parents did look into whether they could sue either or both companies involved in the whole thing and found out they were unlikely to have a case.
While I'm not entirely sure how good or bad the Indian elections are... I do know that Indian people have a deep racism/classism for one of their Indian subgroups (I forget the actual name given to these people, but they get the shittiest jobs possible in their society and have been abused multiple ways over their history)... I also know that Indian government houses deep corruption where anyone with money and status can have anyone 'lesser' (basically anyone who doesn't have the means to do the same to the other person) then them hauled off to be tortured by the police with no penalty to them whether the accusations were right or wrong.
India really has always been on my list of places never to go to a jail in... The middle East and a large portion of Asia also fall into that category... Quite alot of Africa as well.
In my experience management tends to be the reason even if the previous person was a moron... I recall a place I worked for a few years back that the CAO decided running minimal power and heating in our building over christmas break was to expensive (and this in PA along lake erie, where we had tons of snow all winter). Funny enough he died from his cancer he'd been 'hiding' from us since he started there and I was called over break because they couldn't login (the power had been turned off, so even the UPS can't keep the Domain server up for the 5 days it had been since it had power). However when I explained the server simply needed turned on they were both unable to locate the power button on the server (tower configuration system, not rack) and unwilling to pay me to come in (They refused to hire me except as an hourly employee so they didn't have to give me as many benefits, technically I was required to take my vacation during this period as no work was supposed to be going on).
In a sane world the server would always have it's trickle of power and I'd have been more than willing to go in even if it was just to power on a server. Oh during the management transition I even got put on a 3 day suspension because I 'hadn't expressed how bad an issue was well enough'. I think when I spend days trying to tell them how bad a certain thing is and no one wants to listen it's amazingly stupid to discipline me for not being able to force them to listen to me... But that's my IT view of things, not a management view.
This sort of management usually gets what it pays for: bad service.
Your not the only one. I have a similar story with associates degree level experience. It's why I'm back in school now, though I took ten years between associates degree and bachelor's since I did get a IT job between the two. However this last time I got layed off getting a new job was useless with a associates degree. Due to my 10 years between the two I couldn't even get credit for most of my first degree, so I have another year and a half still before I'm finished.
I have Oracle DBA and SQL experience in NE PA, but never used JDE (and I'd have to look to actually recall what that is). I've applied to several DBA/Oracle/SQL postings in the last two years... However none would take my previous experience because I was a 'network admin' who administered many servers including Oracle DB servers, and it wasn't my only function at the company... Or they would take exception to me not having a bachelor's and instead having an associates degree along with nearly a decade of experience. I've looked at work in places like Buffalo and Pittsburgh and when talking to companies there the fact I don't live in town and would have to move there makes them go away.
Companies only seem to look for reasons not to hire people anymore, or at least that's the way it seems from this end.
You seriously don't recall the Samsung cases in Germany? The infamous rounded rectangle patents? Samsung hadn't sued them until after Apple started in on them trying to get them barred from the market (and succeeding).
When I was younger I once worked as a bagger at the grocery store, let me tell you... 'poor' people don't just eat rice and beans. Why? Because they are just like you and eat what they like. This goes for everything, not just food.
I worked at a charter school as their IT admin for several years... Do you know how many kids had portable game systems (DS usually, though also PSPs), cell phones, and mp3 players (ipods etc)? Poor people are often more susceptible to advertising. Especially that geared toward their kids who they often feel they owe whatever luxuries they can manage to give them because they are poor.
In general this becomes exactly the problem most states have had with sales taxes: What is or is not to be taxed? Tax everything, some things, or most things? Make some higher in taxes then others because they consider them necessary? My state for instance doesn't tax food of any sort, tax most things moderately, and taxes things like alcohol, tabbaco, and gas by alot.
'Rich' people spend less (as a portion of income), but have more money to spend in total. Poor people spend more (as a portion of income), but have less money to spend in total. Do you not see a problem here...?
We already have lots of poor people who can barely afford essentials and sales tax is the most direct tax they see. Income tax is the reverse in that it is meant to tax the amount of money you have rather than the amount you spend. High sales taxes encourage those who can afford to to save. High income taxes encourage you to make the most of what you have in total, and save or not as you wish.
Historically we were adults much earlier than we are today, was their biology different? No. Yet people were making life changing decisions at 13 or 14 (such as marriage and career). Those who had finished their biological development were honored or learned elders, known for their common sense wisdom. That part is the part to really change. Everyone is expected to be knowledgeable and reach these sorts of ages. But much like how we keep animals we raise as pets as children (pet cats act like wild kittens, not adult cats, same with dogs and other domesticated house animals), we ourselves now keep our offspring from growing up and developing as we once did. Having said that lots of rich or 'noble' people during history got to live that way to. It never worked out terribly well for them either, yet it's the model we have all adopted now and it shows.
I say we go back to developing maturity earlier and not worry about 'biological development' as much.
People who decide of their own free will to come to your country from another and then demand that this land is actually theirs, then when you tell them to get lost they instead stay and start doing terrorist acts are not people anyone here would ever want around.
The Palestinians are like a family that wanders onto your property, sets up a tent on your lawn and then demands you give over your house to them because their ancestors once owned it. When you tell them to get off your lawn they then start terrorizing you and your family. What you do in response is not likely to be pretty.
The same happened in Israel. They sent military forces in to deal with these hostile threats, things got very bloody. You can't generally tell civilians from terrorists (because they do things like dressing the same way) and so civilians get killed and harassed simply for being part of the ethnic group. Now both sides look horrible. Saying one or the other is better is just silly, though I can certainly understand the stance of the Israelites a bit more. It was their 'house' that these people want and several bordering nations have done their best to remove them as well.
What you just said would mean alot more if the UN recognized Taiwan. They specifically chose to acknowledge Palestine while not doing the same for other actual nations. Since this is UNESCO rather than the UN itself, that would suggest they care more for the 'world heritage' of the middle east than other places they don't recognize. They will also need to take the consequences of their collective actions.
Voting for one of the other parties is 'throwing your vote away'. There is no change, nor a means to change. You have three choices in your vote: Democrat/Republican (effectively identical) or not to vote at all. Most people for years have voted number 3 and simply don't vote.
No matter if things would be worse for awhile with a revolution it may well be our only real hope for a change... That said I don't see it happening soon and even if it did those to take part would be declared terrorists and hunted down like rats by our current government. Our chance of succeeding in a revolution makes Syria look like a cakewalk. It's guaranteed all ways to only get worse and I for one see no way it will ever look good because I certainly wasn't born to the group that is in control.
I'm in my mid-30's and I got along just fine until the recent downturn on an associates degree. I'm back in school now, because people won't hire me to be a entry level employee (I'm overqualified) and people refuse to even take my resume for other jobs because I don't have a bachelor's or greater.
It very much is their fault if they refuse to take experience over a piece of fucking paper! The fact that your narrow minded little pee brain can't figure this out says a lot about your lack of education and your raw ignorance. If jobs didn't fucking demand a degree to now, then not nearly as many people would feel compelled to have one in any random thing.
Sure a business may like hiring a bachelor's holder (of any type) to be a desk clerk, but that does not make them any better or worse than someone who has four years experience as a desk clerk. Business however, currently, says one is worthless and the other is in demand.
I live next to a state funded non-profit university and it costs $7000/semester and increasing (which is $56,000 over four years). There are no city colleges in my state at all as well. So both your numbers 'for the US' are off, though they may apply to the part of it you may live in. It would also mean my states schools would go under with your $35,000 limit... Or just the upper class of this area would go to college....
Well since the contacts that one meets at harvard, yale, or stanford could easily put a poor kid into a chance to make real money later in life... Those could be seen as worthwhile gambits to making increased future gains...
On the other hand, while some may feel entitled to ipads, BMW's, or 4000 sq ft homes... Most people are content well before that. Heck where I live most are content to have a working car, some sort of mobile computing device (laptop, tablet, etc) to help with doing college level materials (especially since they need to type most things), and a home (regardless of size) or apartment to call their own.
Grants are insanely hard to get anymore because of the competition for them, I was informed on a grant I applied for that was giving away $500/semester and had 1 million people apply (with of course only one person getting the $500).
And a part-time job is often a joke. Last slashdot story on the problems with college loans had a comment from a person working 3 part time jobs in an attempt to pay for school. We certainly can't expect everyone to do that (not nearly enough part time jobs for one thing), so that is not working either....
Not to say $250k is sane, but I can certainly see why the above options don't work like intended anymore.
Oh I should also mention that their is a large number of people with college loan debts that never finished school. If someone went three years to my local college, the rate would be ~$7k/semester or $42k in potential loans with absolutely nothing to show for it. Even if they went back to school later... After ten years no college or university has to take any credits you have and most don't want to give you much at all in the way of credits even before that. Most associates programs aren't honored at all between schools in particular. So lots of debt and no better off to get a job after the expense....
When everyone wants a bachelor's degree as their minimum and years of experience both for entry level work, I think it's fair to say they bare some of the blame. That may just be my take on it though...
I have government based federal student loans, I can tell you even on minimum wage and unable to pay my loans the government didn't really care and certainly didn't let me repay at 15% IBR. Even more I still have those federal loans and I doubt even more I'll be allowed to repay them now at 10% of IBR. Instead what I could do was defer for 4 years or go back to school (& acquire more debt), during which I didn't have to repay them.
I'd love to know how one goes about getting either this mythical 10-15% IBR or forgiveness. They certainly have never brought up either with me as options no matter how bad off I was over the last decade.
They don't do anything even with subsidies. I live in PA and we are dotted with towns and cities with 1000-24,000 people in them that don't have more than dial-up internet access after 12 years of subsidies to the telecomms to provide at least pathetically slow broadband options! Instead they take that money and upgrade choice sections of Philly, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg... Even the next largest cities have crap that shouldn't be called 'broadband' in the modern world. Those subsidies certainly don't help us get anything.
Because you can't in most parts of the US? Much for the same reason he mentions the outlawing of municipal broadband. They simply won't allow new competitors in their markets to run cable and unless you have money to buy spectrum (good luck with that!) your screwed.
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The NDA has been gone for quite some time now (3 weeks...? A month...? I forget exactly, it was before beta was even over). I can talk all I want about my experience in beta at this point. The NDA argument is a misnomer.
Seriously? It's "Largely unexplored"? I was in beta for half a year and that was short compared to some. I had about half a dozen max level characters during that time and I've done quests that don't even exist in the current build (because they were removed with often unfixable bugs effecting players). Plenty of people who were in beta longer then me even have certainly explored SW:ToR pretty darn thoroughly. I think 'game reviewers' are the only ones who haven't played more than a single beta weekend and so haven't explored it much at all. Plenty of players have been there and done that repeatedly.
While it may be easier if your male and white (Or Brahmin), I think you've missed the memo were ambitious women and minorities do actually steer large multinationals.... At least in North America and Europe. We just saw IBM's new CEO who is a woman, there was the much hated woman who was head of HP a couple CEO's ago, and those examples are just from the tech industry. Give it a decade and we may well find it odd that a man is the CEO of a large company.
As crazy as it sounds... My experience is that we do not generally have that in the US, though this may vary by state. Plenty of retail and even manufacturing companies only have to replace a defective item with something 'similar'. I know my parents TV died on them a few years back while under manufacturers warranty and they were told they could either get a nice shiny coupon used towards the purchase of a new TV (worth about ~$200 and theirs was an HDTV which costs ~$1000) or they could try the manufacturer (they went through the shop they bought it from first). The manufacturer in turn simply said that they could probably repair it, but costs would be involved to ship it to and from (It was one of the last gen of tube HDTV's, so this is a 150 pound tv). They chose the later, but the tv on return didn't work quite right (the sides of the picture when on were bowed in). This was deemed 'working acceptably' by the manufacturer. My parents did look into whether they could sue either or both companies involved in the whole thing and found out they were unlikely to have a case.
While I'm not entirely sure how good or bad the Indian elections are... I do know that Indian people have a deep racism/classism for one of their Indian subgroups (I forget the actual name given to these people, but they get the shittiest jobs possible in their society and have been abused multiple ways over their history)... I also know that Indian government houses deep corruption where anyone with money and status can have anyone 'lesser' (basically anyone who doesn't have the means to do the same to the other person) then them hauled off to be tortured by the police with no penalty to them whether the accusations were right or wrong.
India really has always been on my list of places never to go to a jail in... The middle East and a large portion of Asia also fall into that category... Quite alot of Africa as well.
In my experience management tends to be the reason even if the previous person was a moron... I recall a place I worked for a few years back that the CAO decided running minimal power and heating in our building over christmas break was to expensive (and this in PA along lake erie, where we had tons of snow all winter). Funny enough he died from his cancer he'd been 'hiding' from us since he started there and I was called over break because they couldn't login (the power had been turned off, so even the UPS can't keep the Domain server up for the 5 days it had been since it had power). However when I explained the server simply needed turned on they were both unable to locate the power button on the server (tower configuration system, not rack) and unwilling to pay me to come in (They refused to hire me except as an hourly employee so they didn't have to give me as many benefits, technically I was required to take my vacation during this period as no work was supposed to be going on).
In a sane world the server would always have it's trickle of power and I'd have been more than willing to go in even if it was just to power on a server. Oh during the management transition I even got put on a 3 day suspension because I 'hadn't expressed how bad an issue was well enough'. I think when I spend days trying to tell them how bad a certain thing is and no one wants to listen it's amazingly stupid to discipline me for not being able to force them to listen to me... But that's my IT view of things, not a management view.
This sort of management usually gets what it pays for: bad service.
There are better deals though, like calling all the SOPA/PIPA supporters is only $24.99!
A bit late to the party, but...
Your not the only one. I have a similar story with associates degree level experience. It's why I'm back in school now, though I took ten years between associates degree and bachelor's since I did get a IT job between the two. However this last time I got layed off getting a new job was useless with a associates degree. Due to my 10 years between the two I couldn't even get credit for most of my first degree, so I have another year and a half still before I'm finished.
I have Oracle DBA and SQL experience in NE PA, but never used JDE (and I'd have to look to actually recall what that is). I've applied to several DBA/Oracle/SQL postings in the last two years... However none would take my previous experience because I was a 'network admin' who administered many servers including Oracle DB servers, and it wasn't my only function at the company... Or they would take exception to me not having a bachelor's and instead having an associates degree along with nearly a decade of experience. I've looked at work in places like Buffalo and Pittsburgh and when talking to companies there the fact I don't live in town and would have to move there makes them go away.
Companies only seem to look for reasons not to hire people anymore, or at least that's the way it seems from this end.
You seriously don't recall the Samsung cases in Germany? The infamous rounded rectangle patents? Samsung hadn't sued them until after Apple started in on them trying to get them barred from the market (and succeeding).
When I was younger I once worked as a bagger at the grocery store, let me tell you... 'poor' people don't just eat rice and beans. Why? Because they are just like you and eat what they like. This goes for everything, not just food.
I worked at a charter school as their IT admin for several years... Do you know how many kids had portable game systems (DS usually, though also PSPs), cell phones, and mp3 players (ipods etc)? Poor people are often more susceptible to advertising. Especially that geared toward their kids who they often feel they owe whatever luxuries they can manage to give them because they are poor.
In general this becomes exactly the problem most states have had with sales taxes: What is or is not to be taxed? Tax everything, some things, or most things? Make some higher in taxes then others because they consider them necessary? My state for instance doesn't tax food of any sort, tax most things moderately, and taxes things like alcohol, tabbaco, and gas by alot.
'Rich' people spend less (as a portion of income), but have more money to spend in total. Poor people spend more (as a portion of income), but have less money to spend in total. Do you not see a problem here...?
We already have lots of poor people who can barely afford essentials and sales tax is the most direct tax they see. Income tax is the reverse in that it is meant to tax the amount of money you have rather than the amount you spend. High sales taxes encourage those who can afford to to save. High income taxes encourage you to make the most of what you have in total, and save or not as you wish.
Historically we were adults much earlier than we are today, was their biology different? No. Yet people were making life changing decisions at 13 or 14 (such as marriage and career). Those who had finished their biological development were honored or learned elders, known for their common sense wisdom. That part is the part to really change. Everyone is expected to be knowledgeable and reach these sorts of ages. But much like how we keep animals we raise as pets as children (pet cats act like wild kittens, not adult cats, same with dogs and other domesticated house animals), we ourselves now keep our offspring from growing up and developing as we once did. Having said that lots of rich or 'noble' people during history got to live that way to. It never worked out terribly well for them either, yet it's the model we have all adopted now and it shows.
I say we go back to developing maturity earlier and not worry about 'biological development' as much.
$99 is 13.6 hours in the US at minimum wage and without taxes FYI.
People who decide of their own free will to come to your country from another and then demand that this land is actually theirs, then when you tell them to get lost they instead stay and start doing terrorist acts are not people anyone here would ever want around.
The Palestinians are like a family that wanders onto your property, sets up a tent on your lawn and then demands you give over your house to them because their ancestors once owned it. When you tell them to get off your lawn they then start terrorizing you and your family. What you do in response is not likely to be pretty.
The same happened in Israel. They sent military forces in to deal with these hostile threats, things got very bloody. You can't generally tell civilians from terrorists (because they do things like dressing the same way) and so civilians get killed and harassed simply for being part of the ethnic group. Now both sides look horrible. Saying one or the other is better is just silly, though I can certainly understand the stance of the Israelites a bit more. It was their 'house' that these people want and several bordering nations have done their best to remove them as well.
What you just said would mean alot more if the UN recognized Taiwan. They specifically chose to acknowledge Palestine while not doing the same for other actual nations. Since this is UNESCO rather than the UN itself, that would suggest they care more for the 'world heritage' of the middle east than other places they don't recognize. They will also need to take the consequences of their collective actions.
Voting for one of the other parties is 'throwing your vote away'. There is no change, nor a means to change. You have three choices in your vote: Democrat/Republican (effectively identical) or not to vote at all. Most people for years have voted number 3 and simply don't vote.
No matter if things would be worse for awhile with a revolution it may well be our only real hope for a change... That said I don't see it happening soon and even if it did those to take part would be declared terrorists and hunted down like rats by our current government. Our chance of succeeding in a revolution makes Syria look like a cakewalk. It's guaranteed all ways to only get worse and I for one see no way it will ever look good because I certainly wasn't born to the group that is in control.
I'm in my mid-30's and I got along just fine until the recent downturn on an associates degree. I'm back in school now, because people won't hire me to be a entry level employee (I'm overqualified) and people refuse to even take my resume for other jobs because I don't have a bachelor's or greater.
It very much is their fault if they refuse to take experience over a piece of fucking paper! The fact that your narrow minded little pee brain can't figure this out says a lot about your lack of education and your raw ignorance. If jobs didn't fucking demand a degree to now, then not nearly as many people would feel compelled to have one in any random thing.
Sure a business may like hiring a bachelor's holder (of any type) to be a desk clerk, but that does not make them any better or worse than someone who has four years experience as a desk clerk. Business however, currently, says one is worthless and the other is in demand.
I live next to a state funded non-profit university and it costs $7000/semester and increasing (which is $56,000 over four years). There are no city colleges in my state at all as well. So both your numbers 'for the US' are off, though they may apply to the part of it you may live in. It would also mean my states schools would go under with your $35,000 limit... Or just the upper class of this area would go to college....
Well since the contacts that one meets at harvard, yale, or stanford could easily put a poor kid into a chance to make real money later in life... Those could be seen as worthwhile gambits to making increased future gains...
On the other hand, while some may feel entitled to ipads, BMW's, or 4000 sq ft homes... Most people are content well before that. Heck where I live most are content to have a working car, some sort of mobile computing device (laptop, tablet, etc) to help with doing college level materials (especially since they need to type most things), and a home (regardless of size) or apartment to call their own.
Grants are insanely hard to get anymore because of the competition for them, I was informed on a grant I applied for that was giving away $500/semester and had 1 million people apply (with of course only one person getting the $500).
And a part-time job is often a joke. Last slashdot story on the problems with college loans had a comment from a person working 3 part time jobs in an attempt to pay for school. We certainly can't expect everyone to do that (not nearly enough part time jobs for one thing), so that is not working either....
Not to say $250k is sane, but I can certainly see why the above options don't work like intended anymore.
Oh I should also mention that their is a large number of people with college loan debts that never finished school. If someone went three years to my local college, the rate would be ~$7k/semester or $42k in potential loans with absolutely nothing to show for it. Even if they went back to school later... After ten years no college or university has to take any credits you have and most don't want to give you much at all in the way of credits even before that. Most associates programs aren't honored at all between schools in particular. So lots of debt and no better off to get a job after the expense....
When everyone wants a bachelor's degree as their minimum and years of experience both for entry level work, I think it's fair to say they bare some of the blame. That may just be my take on it though...
I have government based federal student loans, I can tell you even on minimum wage and unable to pay my loans the government didn't really care and certainly didn't let me repay at 15% IBR. Even more I still have those federal loans and I doubt even more I'll be allowed to repay them now at 10% of IBR. Instead what I could do was defer for 4 years or go back to school (& acquire more debt), during which I didn't have to repay them.
I'd love to know how one goes about getting either this mythical 10-15% IBR or forgiveness. They certainly have never brought up either with me as options no matter how bad off I was over the last decade.
They don't do anything even with subsidies. I live in PA and we are dotted with towns and cities with 1000-24,000 people in them that don't have more than dial-up internet access after 12 years of subsidies to the telecomms to provide at least pathetically slow broadband options! Instead they take that money and upgrade choice sections of Philly, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg... Even the next largest cities have crap that shouldn't be called 'broadband' in the modern world. Those subsidies certainly don't help us get anything.
Because you can't in most parts of the US? Much for the same reason he mentions the outlawing of municipal broadband. They simply won't allow new competitors in their markets to run cable and unless you have money to buy spectrum (good luck with that!) your screwed.