Detroit is interesting because unions played a major part in destroying its car industry. At a time where US car companies badly needed to adapt to the new Asian competition, most of their money was spent paying for pension and benefits of people who had left the workforce years or even decades earlier. So they entered the death spiral of downsizing, outsourcing and such.
Same thing happens with civil servants and public workers in many cities in North America. Not only are the services severely downsized (such as in Chicago where they had to reduce the school calendar to be able to afford the gold-plated teachers conditions), but in many cases the cities have to spend tax money on pension and healthcare of retired employees who did not work harder than current ones, but simply happened to be in the workforce when the economy was booming and the unions had the cities by the balls. The result is that people who can't themselves afford a pension plan or decent healthcare and who will live in poverty when they retire have to pay for those lottery winners.
Another issue with unions is the lack of flexibility. They hold onto job descriptions to a point where it becomes totally absurd. Such as in the case of those people working in one of Warren Buffet's newspapers (I think the one in Buffalo); when the newspaper brought in a new machine to fold papers, they couldn't change the job of those poor union workers who used to fold newspapers manually. So until they retire, those people stand in line besides the conveyor belt where the newspapers exit the folding machine and in the air they make a move with their hand that is similar to what they used to do to fold the newspapers manually. They are known as "the blessers", and they are the perfect example of a situation where employees become wards of the company, not part of a team that is there to help the business.
Quite often it is legally easier to declare bankruptcy here than to restructure a company, especially if you have a large contingent of long term employees that would otherwise be hard to dismiss
it is attitudes like your's that prevent women from applying to the tech jobs in the first place.
No. What prevents women from applying to the tech jobs is the amount of self-directed continuous learning that is required to succeed in this field. If that continuous education could be crammed in a one-night-per-week community college program that women can bitch/brag about on Facebook or Twitter and that would result in a formal document to add to their record, they'd flock to IT.
Also they just don't like computers, because computers are too straightforward and don't react to emotional blackmail.
> Nothing whatsoever has changed in the way government agencies spy on US citizens
So Al Queda wants business as usual? That doesn't make sense.
Last time Al Qaeda disrupted the American economy, there was a big intelligence and military response. So what Snowden achieved is impressive; he basically destroyed IBM's business abroad (and many others) without a single soldier being deployed as a result. They could learn from him.
Here's the outcome of Mr Snowden's "whistleblowing":
- American IT companies are losing billions because foreign customers are scared - Intelligence networks are fucked - Nothing whatsoever has changed in the way government agencies spy on US citizens
This is a good thing; even if if doesn't shut down the NSA.
What if recent SSL exploits were just a smokescreen to allow the NSA to inject some kind of snooping backdoor in that thing. Now they require SSL everywhere to create a false sense of privacy. CONSPIRACY!
it's funny to see that end of the spectrum, while at the other end there's people getting fired of their low-paying job if they fail to maintain their quota of putting together 15 widgets per minute on the production line of some factory.
In the context of a discussion about changing the whole car door when a component fails you can't infer what an "electric window" is? And yet you call people stupid.
Of course. That's why when the electric window died on my Cadillac it proved cheaper to replace the entire door than to have them swap or fix the failed component.
No, that was because you were too lazy to track down replacement brushes, bushings, whatever, and install them. I don't blame you; me too, much of the time.
I'm not going to track down parts, that's the dealership's problem. If they decide that it's more cost-effective to replace the door than to spend tons of man-hour fixing the failed component, it's up to them, I`m not the one paying either way.
The guy who did the job told me that more and more they do this kind of thing, replacing entire sections instead of fixing small parts because the electronics are too sensitive or something like that. I asked if the door was refurbished, he said no, they don`t send the old one back, they throw it in a container and when it`s full some local junker comes to get it.
According to Wikipedia: "Power window or electric window lifts(American English) as well as power or electric windows (British English) are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by depressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a hand-turned crank handle."
Out of curiosity I went to their website and did a view-source. Apparently they use Drupal. So I'm going to add them to my "Uses drupal" bookmark folder for that time when the next Drupal security exploit comes out...
Also for some reason they use jQuery 1.8. Isn't that version vulnerable to a known XSS exploit?
They totally missed that white boat! Looks like about 30 degrees to starboard and they'd have nailed it. Bad aiming there.
That thing is accurate. It's the guy with the hard hat and sunglasses that pointed wrong. I guess he was too busy trying to look cool with his ninja stance to fully focus on the target.
Mechanical systems are always more complex to build and maintain than electrical systems.
Of course. That's why when the electric window died on my Cadillac it proved cheaper to replace the entire door than to have them swap or fix the failed component.
Again, why do you pay for someone else's mortgage and have nothing to show for it but a drawer full of rent receipts? Drive ten miles away from the city and find something you can afford to buy.
A friend of mine did just that. He works in NYC and bought his house as close as he could afford. He spends 2h in trains, morning and evening.
That simplistic vision of "buy no matter what" is a symptom of someone who never lived in a big city. Does that mean that people "have" to live in NYC? Of course not. But if someone chooses to do so, odds are that renting will be the only realistic option. Same in Hong-Kong, Honolulu, Seoul and many other expensive urban areas.
Yeah music is like that. Go to Wal-mart and you'll see CDs like "All the classical music you'll ever need" and you'll see Bach or Vivaldi tracks. After a while distinctions go away and people just put everything in bigger, simpler buckets.
But you'd have to be completely deaf to pop culture and popular musical history to claim bands like the Beatles or Floyd are listened to today only because people have happy memories from when they first heard them.
The context is different. It's like baseball. There was a time where a fat guy that was hitting the ball further than the average could make it in the major leagues. Now there's people who could throw that fat guy further than that who can't make it in the major leagues because the competition is insane and the sports science has made huge progress. The average ball player is a formidable athlete compared to the top guys of 20 years ago.
It's the same with music. A decent band in the 70s had a good chance to become successful. Now there's people who sing as well as Celine Dion who line up by the thousands for a place in American Idol or other shows, just to get some exposure.
It's like that with everything. In the mid to late 90s, if you knew HTML and maybe had a general idea of how a browser works you were immediately hired as a web developer and paid the big bucks. Now knowing HTML is not even a skill, it's a no-brainer requirement in a lot of jobs.
Again, this kind of logic works in smaller towns (or in Detroit), but in bigger cities the price-to-rent makes it very difficult to buy.
The price-to-rent formula is the price of a house divided by a year of rent. The average in the USA is about 10, which falls in the "should buy" range. Above 15 it's a "should rent" range, and cities like San Francisco are in the 30s.
You're a marketing consumer. For example I still hear and like Richard Clayderman
I agree, Richard Clayderman is Da Shit. I own all his albums; they are just there on the top shelf of my cd collection, between the Liberace discography and Kenny G's greatest hits. There's nothing I like better than put "Ballade pour Adeline" on repeat on my Juliette stereo while I enjoy my weekly scrapbooking session. I sure got a nice return on that $3 bargain bin purchase at K-Mart.
How was this stopped in the past? I won't say because it might give people ideas.
Thank you for your cautious attitude. Who knows what kind of doomsday scenarios could happen if the wisdom of some anonymous coward who knows best was leaked on Slashdot.
Mozart was writing "real" music 200 years before those 40 years old albums you bought. Why did you buy those jingles with no lasting value?
The music that was popular when you were younger was not better than older or more recent music. But it was the music you grew up with, and it was playing in the background when you had your first kiss or your first car. That's why it matters to you. The fact that you don't relate to today's music doesn't mean it's garbage.
I was shocked a while ago when I heard a young person call REM and Barenaked Ladies "oldies". To me, "oldies" was Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby. That's the thing with time, it keeps moving forward.
Slashdot Mirror
Detroit is interesting because unions played a major part in destroying its car industry. At a time where US car companies badly needed to adapt to the new Asian competition, most of their money was spent paying for pension and benefits of people who had left the workforce years or even decades earlier. So they entered the death spiral of downsizing, outsourcing and such.
Same thing happens with civil servants and public workers in many cities in North America. Not only are the services severely downsized (such as in Chicago where they had to reduce the school calendar to be able to afford the gold-plated teachers conditions), but in many cases the cities have to spend tax money on pension and healthcare of retired employees who did not work harder than current ones, but simply happened to be in the workforce when the economy was booming and the unions had the cities by the balls. The result is that people who can't themselves afford a pension plan or decent healthcare and who will live in poverty when they retire have to pay for those lottery winners.
Another issue with unions is the lack of flexibility. They hold onto job descriptions to a point where it becomes totally absurd. Such as in the case of those people working in one of Warren Buffet's newspapers (I think the one in Buffalo); when the newspaper brought in a new machine to fold papers, they couldn't change the job of those poor union workers who used to fold newspapers manually. So until they retire, those people stand in line besides the conveyor belt where the newspapers exit the folding machine and in the air they make a move with their hand that is similar to what they used to do to fold the newspapers manually. They are known as "the blessers", and they are the perfect example of a situation where employees become wards of the company, not part of a team that is there to help the business.
Quite often it is legally easier to declare bankruptcy here than to restructure a company, especially if you have a large contingent of long term employees that would otherwise be hard to dismiss
The Mandriva Syndrome
Illinois has a $65bn (yes billion) deficit.
It also happens to have some of the most powerful unions and pro-worker laws in the country. Chicago is basically the US equivalent of Greece.
it is attitudes like your's that prevent women from applying to the tech jobs in the first place.
No. What prevents women from applying to the tech jobs is the amount of self-directed continuous learning that is required to succeed in this field. If that continuous education could be crammed in a one-night-per-week community college program that women can bitch/brag about on Facebook or Twitter and that would result in a formal document to add to their record, they'd flock to IT.
Also they just don't like computers, because computers are too straightforward and don't react to emotional blackmail.
> Nothing whatsoever has changed in the way government agencies spy on US citizens
So Al Queda wants business as usual? That doesn't make sense.
Last time Al Qaeda disrupted the American economy, there was a big intelligence and military response. So what Snowden achieved is impressive; he basically destroyed IBM's business abroad (and many others) without a single soldier being deployed as a result. They could learn from him.
Here's the outcome of Mr Snowden's "whistleblowing":
- American IT companies are losing billions because foreign customers are scared
- Intelligence networks are fucked
- Nothing whatsoever has changed in the way government agencies spy on US citizens
The guy should send his resume to Al Qaeda.
rape cages for growing plants
Greenpeace should get involved!
This is a good thing; even if if doesn't shut down the NSA.
What if recent SSL exploits were just a smokescreen to allow the NSA to inject some kind of snooping backdoor in that thing. Now they require SSL everywhere to create a false sense of privacy. CONSPIRACY!
Let's boycott SSL!
Again, an ad hominem
Says the guy who managed to use "stupid" 3 times in his post plus threw in a "smartass" for good measure.
WTF was I thinking when I thought that this was good
Something similar happened to me recently when I found the entire Airwolf series in my video collection...
there's a surplus of labor on any ship.
Our tax dollars at work!
it's funny to see that end of the spectrum, while at the other end there's people getting fired of their low-paying job if they fail to maintain their quota of putting together 15 widgets per minute on the production line of some factory.
In the context of a discussion about changing the whole car door when a component fails you can't infer what an "electric window" is? And yet you call people stupid.
You must be a fascinating coworker.
Of course. That's why when the electric window died on my Cadillac it proved cheaper to replace the entire door than to have them swap or fix the failed component.
No, that was because you were too lazy to track down replacement brushes, bushings, whatever, and install them. I don't blame you; me too, much of the time.
I'm not going to track down parts, that's the dealership's problem. If they decide that it's more cost-effective to replace the door than to spend tons of man-hour fixing the failed component, it's up to them, I`m not the one paying either way.
The guy who did the job told me that more and more they do this kind of thing, replacing entire sections instead of fixing small parts because the electronics are too sensitive or something like that. I asked if the door was refurbished, he said no, they don`t send the old one back, they throw it in a container and when it`s full some local junker comes to get it.
the window was "electric", whatever that is
According to Wikipedia: "Power window or electric window lifts(American English) as well as power or electric windows (British English) are automobile windows which can be raised and lowered by depressing a button or switch, as opposed to using a hand-turned crank handle."
See, you can learn amazing stuff on internet!
Out of curiosity I went to their website and did a view-source. Apparently they use Drupal. So I'm going to add them to my "Uses drupal" bookmark folder for that time when the next Drupal security exploit comes out...
Also for some reason they use jQuery 1.8. Isn't that version vulnerable to a known XSS exploit?
They totally missed that white boat! Looks like about 30 degrees to starboard and they'd have nailed it. Bad aiming there.
That thing is accurate. It's the guy with the hard hat and sunglasses that pointed wrong. I guess he was too busy trying to look cool with his ninja stance to fully focus on the target.
Mechanical systems are always more complex to build and maintain than electrical systems.
Of course. That's why when the electric window died on my Cadillac it proved cheaper to replace the entire door than to have them swap or fix the failed component.
(I'm thankful I have never heard of half the people you mentioned and even more grateful I didn't even know there was a selfie song)
Awesome. This reminds me of the "I don't know that shit" bit from Chris Rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Keepin' it real, dude. Keepin' it real!
Again, why do you pay for someone else's mortgage and have nothing to show for it but a drawer full of rent receipts? Drive ten miles away from the city and find something you can afford to buy.
A friend of mine did just that. He works in NYC and bought his house as close as he could afford. He spends 2h in trains, morning and evening.
That simplistic vision of "buy no matter what" is a symptom of someone who never lived in a big city. Does that mean that people "have" to live in NYC? Of course not. But if someone chooses to do so, odds are that renting will be the only realistic option. Same in Hong-Kong, Honolulu, Seoul and many other expensive urban areas.
Yeah music is like that. Go to Wal-mart and you'll see CDs like "All the classical music you'll ever need" and you'll see Bach or Vivaldi tracks. After a while distinctions go away and people just put everything in bigger, simpler buckets.
But you'd have to be completely deaf to pop culture and popular musical history to claim bands like the Beatles or Floyd are listened to today only because people have happy memories from when they first heard them.
The context is different. It's like baseball. There was a time where a fat guy that was hitting the ball further than the average could make it in the major leagues. Now there's people who could throw that fat guy further than that who can't make it in the major leagues because the competition is insane and the sports science has made huge progress. The average ball player is a formidable athlete compared to the top guys of 20 years ago.
It's the same with music. A decent band in the 70s had a good chance to become successful. Now there's people who sing as well as Celine Dion who line up by the thousands for a place in American Idol or other shows, just to get some exposure.
It's like that with everything. In the mid to late 90s, if you knew HTML and maybe had a general idea of how a browser works you were immediately hired as a web developer and paid the big bucks. Now knowing HTML is not even a skill, it's a no-brainer requirement in a lot of jobs.
Again, this kind of logic works in smaller towns (or in Detroit), but in bigger cities the price-to-rent makes it very difficult to buy.
The price-to-rent formula is the price of a house divided by a year of rent. The average in the USA is about 10, which falls in the "should buy" range. Above 15 it's a "should rent" range, and cities like San Francisco are in the 30s.
You're a marketing consumer. For example I still hear and like Richard Clayderman
I agree, Richard Clayderman is Da Shit. I own all his albums; they are just there on the top shelf of my cd collection, between the Liberace discography and Kenny G's greatest hits. There's nothing I like better than put "Ballade pour Adeline" on repeat on my Juliette stereo while I enjoy my weekly scrapbooking session. I sure got a nice return on that $3 bargain bin purchase at K-Mart.
How was this stopped in the past? I won't say because it might give people ideas.
Thank you for your cautious attitude. Who knows what kind of doomsday scenarios could happen if the wisdom of some anonymous coward who knows best was leaked on Slashdot.
Mozart was writing "real" music 200 years before those 40 years old albums you bought. Why did you buy those jingles with no lasting value?
The music that was popular when you were younger was not better than older or more recent music. But it was the music you grew up with, and it was playing in the background when you had your first kiss or your first car. That's why it matters to you. The fact that you don't relate to today's music doesn't mean it's garbage.
I was shocked a while ago when I heard a young person call REM and Barenaked Ladies "oldies". To me, "oldies" was Elvis Presley and Bing Crosby. That's the thing with time, it keeps moving forward.