I was involved with a scenario like you describe, many years ago(90's). The company I worked for was merging with another, and we were absorbing their IT. We were sent to their facility for a week to work with people who were about to lose their jobs. It was ridiculous. Most of them wouldn't even talk to us. There were all sorts of interesting things loading in the autoexec.bat files of the pc's that were now unused by recently laid off employees. It was a fruitless experience. Mainly what we got were some binders with very basic info and there were a few mid-level guys who stuck around to give us a brain dump of what they knew. Overall once we took over we essentially had to learn everything from scratch.
I would say you are drastically oversimplifying things. It is not that black and white. Everyone in business now understands, and has for several years now, that IT is an integral part of any business, small or large. IT upgrades and maintains the accounting software that gets audited. IT upgrades and maintains the internet connections allowing internet access and multisite connectivity. IT upgrades and maintains the desktops, servers, network infrastructure, etc; ad infinitum. Enterprises need IT something fierce, and they know it. This isn't going to change anytime soon.
Management knows all this, they may be evil fucks but usually aren't that stupid. You're hyperbole is more apropos to the early 2000's...
Somebody did that to me the other day... I climbed up and walked across her hood, then hopped back down onto the pavement to continue along the crosswalk. She was non-thrilled, and rolled down her window to shout at me, and I shouted back "put down the damned phone and drive"... she sheepishly rolled up her window. Was feeling quite smug, that day.:)
With the advent of dickbreathers messing with their phones when the light turns green I've noticed an interesting driving phenomenon. Many drivers in traffic now are easy to pass and barely are paying attention to the flow of traffic. These dickbreathers are busy updating a status or groping themselves on Tumblr. In some ways this is good because they can be easily passed, however they are also a big wildcard while driving, since they aren't paying attention to the road. It really is amazing that anyone can defend their behavior of ignoring the road conditions so they can play with their phone.
Yea, you should pull over if you're going to fuck around with any sort of digital device that requires you to stop watching the road and taking your hands off the wheel. Is that really so hard to understand?
Good lord this is the best news I've heard in a while. As someone who walks/bikes and rides public transportation quit a bit I'm a constant target of duechebag "drivers" texting away. It doesn't matter if you're stopped or not(except if the engine isn't running...) If you're texting while you're driving its wrong, and no sugar coated bullshit excuse can relinquish you of your responsibility while driving a motor vehicle.
I love the "mystery" that has been created about camping in the desert.
The "legitimacy" of "grizzled veterans".
The "tips and tricks" handed down to only "deserving" virgins/newbies:
Water(check!)
Shade(check!)
Reliable Gear(check!)
Common Sense(I fucking hope so...)
For those of us who live in or near the desert southwest(Colorado Plateau) and have camped in that terrain for years, listening to "grizzled veterans" discuss a long weekend party in the desert like they're going on a month long backpack trip through the Kalahari is either very annoying or good for a few laughs around a secluded, remote and quiet campfire late at night.
But this seems inevitable, and needs to be solved by changing the attitudes of society toward education rather than by hamstringing technological progress.
Inevitable...? No shit, eh?
Where do we see any technology being hamstrung?
The reality is, with the increase in "productivity" due to technological "progress", less and less people in the U.S. are employed, or employed enough to support themselves or their families.
Ever heard of the jobless recovery?
Driverless cars will become a reality.
Machines that pick produce will become a reality.
Robotic police and security forces will become a reality.
And a large and ever growing percentage of the American population will become unemployed/underemployed.
What will these people do all day?
How will they feed themselves and their families?
What is the future of the US with a large percentage of the population leading lives like that?
It's analogous to the current "ubran homesteading" hype. I've been growing gardens in my backyards for years, but now it's all of a sudden trendy and hip to grow a garden.
Many of them just moved here a few years ago and have no real connection to Oakland or the Bay Area in general (other than writing articles and blog posts about how AMAZING the Oakland arts scene is) and their so-called cultural renaissance is really just classic market-driven gentrification, displacing the culture that was already there in favor of something totally manufactured and transient.
Bingo...
My dad was born in Oakland, raised in The City. My dads side of the family left SF years ago because of the cost of living, etc; Many of them don't even live in the BA anymore...
Almost no one who live in SF is from there, let alone California.
It started with youth sports where "everyone is a winner", then was amplified ad infinitum via our Lord and Savior The Internet.
Now get the fuck off my lawn.
Out here in the boons, it's still the standard way of life. Everyone welds, constructs, fixes and "makes".
I've lived in the boons also, and what you describe is HOW IT USED TO BE. With the advent of ubiquitous gaming, computers and digital entertainments of all forms, less and less of the younger generation "make" anymore, and an others comment about going to Wal-Mart is right on the money. Just because you live in a small town doesn't mean you can "make" anything.
You're more likely to "build" a Facebook profile...
The AC comment was definitely uncalled for and in poor taste.
However, I have a close relative who was a drug/alcohol counselor on a Native American reservation(not the Navajo) for several years back in the 80's. Unfortunately, alcohol has devastated many lives on the reservation. It is still a big problem.
the data center is in Shiprock New Mexico on the Navajo Nation, NOT in Albuquerque. This is a 240+ mile difference. It's a common occurance that news articles written by people outside the area tend to make. Everyone not from New Mexico thinks that Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos are the only places in New Mexico.
There is a HUGE difference between Albuquerque and Shiprock. Shiprock is beautiful, but in a uber-stark kind of way. And it is small... It makes Farmington look big. And it's "on the rez"... which has both pros and cons. A person would have to be comfortable living in that environment.
Here is the canned reply:
"Thank you for your interest in helping to stop Mozilla's cookie blocking plans.
Used transparently and responsibly, cookies improve the relevancy of
the online experience and ultimately generate the enhanced publisher
revenue that supports a diverse consumer content experience. That's
why the DAA believes that Mozilla's "judge and jury" approach for
cookie blocking isn't right for the marketplace or the consumer
experience - especially when robust transparency and control
mechanisms for interest-based ads are already available at
www.aboutads.info.
As our campaign moves forward, the DAA will provide updates about how
our industry is working to address this very important issue for the
future of the consumer-facing Internet.
Since and including Clinton we've only had "Republican Light" Democrats, "Centrists", which is actually code for "we'll whore ourselves out to corporate money and push whatever agenda they want, all wrapped in warm and uplifting rhetoric about common American values of the middle class".
A lot of higher paid wage slaves have themselves convinced that they are something different than people that fill Amazon orders and that's not really the case.
Bingo. You nailed it right there. That is the divide and conquer mechanism that is used. As long as someone who makes $150k a year thinks they aren't in the same boat as someone who makes $30k, the race to the bottom will continue.
The fascinating thing is how the media has convinced the majority of the American public that Obama is a "lefty socialist". Nothing could be further from the truth. Obama is a moderate Republican on par with George HW Bush. I gotta give Murdoch, The Kochs, Karl Rove and Limbaugh their props here. They worked the system good and manipulated public opinion brilliantly.
But I view them the same way I would Goebbels, Himmler and Goering.
There was a time in the US when the "working class" actually banded together for higher wages and benefits. There was a time when Americans cared enough about the future of their children to take the necessary steps to guarantee them a better future, whether they were garbage collectors or brain surgeons. The lessons learned from the affects of Robber Baron Capitalism and The Great Depression have been utterly lost. Utterly Lost.
What has happened is(for lack of a better term, and a nod to Queensryche's 1988 masterwork, "Operation Mindcrime") that the 1% that rule America discovered how to "divide and conquer", as if that tactic hasn't been used countless times through history with the same results. Since the 1980s(yea, you've heard this before) the 1% have successfully rolled back the social safety nets, which in the past were mainly affecting the poor. Now the middle class is sliding down into poverty.
This is no "market adjustment" or "realignment of labor forces". This is nothing less that a concerted and tightly executed plan to turn the US into a third world country, where the vast majority of the population is poor, marginalized and has little or no political or economic power, where a small elite controls all facets of society.
The lessons learned from the affects of Robber Baron Capitalism and The Great Depression have been utterly lost. Utterly Lost...
So, keep the libertarian fantasy going. Dog-ear that copy of Atlas Shrugged for the nth time. When you're ready to discuss solutions, consider reality.
Fantastic!
Years ago I read Atlas Shrugged to find out what all the hubub was about. I would read it everyday at work during lunch. I had the book at my cube and people I had never talked to before would stop by and talk about the book and how much they were influenced by it, etc; It was like I had joined some secret society...
My analysis after reading it?
Boring and annoying.
Pretty much all the time when I was reading it I was thinking, "yeah, but that isn't how the real world works". To me the Libertarian Dream makes about as much sense and is about as likely to work as the Communist Dream.
Slashdot Mirror
I was involved with a scenario like you describe, many years ago(90's). The company I worked for was merging with another, and we were absorbing their IT. We were sent to their facility for a week to work with people who were about to lose their jobs. It was ridiculous. Most of them wouldn't even talk to us. There were all sorts of interesting things loading in the autoexec.bat files of the pc's that were now unused by recently laid off employees. It was a fruitless experience. Mainly what we got were some binders with very basic info and there were a few mid-level guys who stuck around to give us a brain dump of what they knew. Overall once we took over we essentially had to learn everything from scratch.
I would say you are drastically oversimplifying things. It is not that black and white. Everyone in business now understands, and has for several years now, that IT is an integral part of any business, small or large. IT upgrades and maintains the accounting software that gets audited. IT upgrades and maintains the internet connections allowing internet access and multisite connectivity. IT upgrades and maintains the desktops, servers, network infrastructure, etc; ad infinitum. Enterprises need IT something fierce, and they know it. This isn't going to change anytime soon.
Management knows all this, they may be evil fucks but usually aren't that stupid. You're hyperbole is more apropos to the early 2000's...
The incentive is certainly going to encourage the greater of the two evils
I disagree. I feel that if someone gets a ticket for texting while driving they will be much less likely to text again while driving.
When cell phones started becoming ubiquitous 15 to 20 years ago
Thats a good one!
Somebody did that to me the other day... I climbed up and walked across her hood, then hopped back down onto the pavement to continue along the crosswalk. She was non-thrilled, and rolled down her window to shout at me, and I shouted back "put down the damned phone and drive"... she sheepishly rolled up her window. Was feeling quite smug, that day. :)
Brilliant!
With the advent of dickbreathers messing with their phones when the light turns green I've noticed an interesting driving phenomenon. Many drivers in traffic now are easy to pass and barely are paying attention to the flow of traffic. These dickbreathers are busy updating a status or groping themselves on Tumblr. In some ways this is good because they can be easily passed, however they are also a big wildcard while driving, since they aren't paying attention to the road. It really is amazing that anyone can defend their behavior of ignoring the road conditions so they can play with their phone.
Yea, you should pull over if you're going to fuck around with any sort of digital device that requires you to stop watching the road and taking your hands off the wheel. Is that really so hard to understand?
Good lord this is the best news I've heard in a while. As someone who walks/bikes and rides public transportation quit a bit I'm a constant target of duechebag "drivers" texting away. It doesn't matter if you're stopped or not(except if the engine isn't running...) If you're texting while you're driving its wrong, and no sugar coated bullshit excuse can relinquish you of your responsibility while driving a motor vehicle.
It's still funny.
Deal with it.
The "legitimacy" of "grizzled veterans".
The "tips and tricks" handed down to only "deserving" virgins/newbies:
For those of us who live in or near the desert southwest(Colorado Plateau) and have camped in that terrain for years, listening to "grizzled veterans" discuss a long weekend party in the desert like they're going on a month long backpack trip through the Kalahari is either very annoying or good for a few laughs around a secluded, remote and quiet campfire late at night.
But this seems inevitable, and needs to be solved by changing the attitudes of society toward education rather than by hamstringing technological progress.
Inevitable...? No shit, eh?
Where do we see any technology being hamstrung?
The reality is, with the increase in "productivity" due to technological "progress", less and less people in the U.S. are employed, or employed enough to support themselves or their families.
Ever heard of the jobless recovery?
Driverless cars will become a reality.
Machines that pick produce will become a reality.
Robotic police and security forces will become a reality.
And a large and ever growing percentage of the American population will become unemployed/underemployed.
What will these people do all day?
How will they feed themselves and their families?
What is the future of the US with a large percentage of the population leading lives like that?
I would recommend reading some of Marshall Brains thoughts on these topics.
It's analogous to the current "ubran homesteading" hype. I've been growing gardens in my backyards for years, but now it's all of a sudden trendy and hip to grow a garden.
Many of them just moved here a few years ago and have no real connection to Oakland or the Bay Area in general (other than writing articles and blog posts about how AMAZING the Oakland arts scene is) and their so-called cultural renaissance is really just classic market-driven gentrification, displacing the culture that was already there in favor of something totally manufactured and transient.
Bingo...
My dad was born in Oakland, raised in The City. My dads side of the family left SF years ago because of the cost of living, etc; Many of them don't even live in the BA anymore...
Almost no one who live in SF is from there, let alone California.
Yep.
It started with youth sports where "everyone is a winner", then was amplified ad infinitum via our Lord and Savior The Internet.
Now get the fuck off my lawn.
Out here in the boons, it's still the standard way of life. Everyone welds, constructs, fixes and "makes".
I've lived in the boons also, and what you describe is HOW IT USED TO BE. With the advent of ubiquitous gaming, computers and digital entertainments of all forms, less and less of the younger generation "make" anymore, and an others comment about going to Wal-Mart is right on the money. Just because you live in a small town doesn't mean you can "make" anything.
You're more likely to "build" a Facebook profile...
Thats a smokin' handshake you got there.
The AC comment was definitely uncalled for and in poor taste.
However, I have a close relative who was a drug/alcohol counselor on a Native American reservation(not the Navajo) for several years back in the 80's. Unfortunately, alcohol has devastated many lives on the reservation. It is still a big problem.
Or Portland...
the data center is in Shiprock New Mexico on the Navajo Nation, NOT in Albuquerque. This is a 240+ mile difference. It's a common occurance that news articles written by people outside the area tend to make. Everyone not from New Mexico thinks that Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos are the only places in New Mexico.
There is a HUGE difference between Albuquerque and Shiprock. Shiprock is beautiful, but in a uber-stark kind of way. And it is small... It makes Farmington look big. And it's "on the rez"... which has both pros and cons. A person would have to be comfortable living in that environment.
I sent an email supporting Mozillas decsion...
Here is the canned reply:
"Thank you for your interest in helping to stop Mozilla's cookie blocking plans.
Used transparently and responsibly, cookies improve the relevancy of the online experience and ultimately generate the enhanced publisher revenue that supports a diverse consumer content experience. That's why the DAA believes that Mozilla's "judge and jury" approach for cookie blocking isn't right for the marketplace or the consumer experience - especially when robust transparency and control mechanisms for interest-based ads are already available at www.aboutads.info.
As our campaign moves forward, the DAA will provide updates about how our industry is working to address this very important issue for the future of the consumer-facing Internet.
Follow us on Twitter: @daausa"
Since and including Clinton we've only had "Republican Light" Democrats, "Centrists", which is actually code for "we'll whore ourselves out to corporate money and push whatever agenda they want, all wrapped in warm and uplifting rhetoric about common American values of the middle class".
A lot of higher paid wage slaves have themselves convinced that they are something different than people that fill Amazon orders and that's not really the case.
Bingo. You nailed it right there. That is the divide and conquer mechanism that is used. As long as someone who makes $150k a year thinks they aren't in the same boat as someone who makes $30k, the race to the bottom will continue.
The fascinating thing is how the media has convinced the majority of the American public that Obama is a "lefty socialist". Nothing could be further from the truth. Obama is a moderate Republican on par with George HW Bush. I gotta give Murdoch, The Kochs, Karl Rove and Limbaugh their props here. They worked the system good and manipulated public opinion brilliantly.
But I view them the same way I would Goebbels, Himmler and Goering.
There was a time in the US when the "working class" actually banded together for higher wages and benefits. There was a time when Americans cared enough about the future of their children to take the necessary steps to guarantee them a better future, whether they were garbage collectors or brain surgeons. The lessons learned from the affects of Robber Baron Capitalism and The Great Depression have been utterly lost. Utterly Lost.
What has happened is(for lack of a better term, and a nod to Queensryche's 1988 masterwork, "Operation Mindcrime") that the 1% that rule America discovered how to "divide and conquer", as if that tactic hasn't been used countless times through history with the same results. Since the 1980s(yea, you've heard this before) the 1% have successfully rolled back the social safety nets, which in the past were mainly affecting the poor. Now the middle class is sliding down into poverty.
This is no "market adjustment" or "realignment of labor forces". This is nothing less that a concerted and tightly executed plan to turn the US into a third world country, where the vast majority of the population is poor, marginalized and has little or no political or economic power, where a small elite controls all facets of society.
The lessons learned from the affects of Robber Baron Capitalism and The Great Depression have been utterly lost. Utterly Lost...
So, keep the libertarian fantasy going. Dog-ear that copy of Atlas Shrugged for the nth time. When you're ready to discuss solutions, consider reality.
Fantastic!
Years ago I read Atlas Shrugged to find out what all the hubub was about. I would read it everyday at work during lunch. I had the book at my cube and people I had never talked to before would stop by and talk about the book and how much they were influenced by it, etc; It was like I had joined some secret society...
My analysis after reading it?
Boring and annoying.
Pretty much all the time when I was reading it I was thinking, "yeah, but that isn't how the real world works".
To me the Libertarian Dream makes about as much sense and is about as likely to work as the Communist Dream.
Human Nature trumps ideology every time.