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Comment: Re:Obvious Answer (Score 1) 665

by Grishnakh (#46485149) Attached to: Measles Outbreak In NYC

Unfortunately there's no simple, black-and-white answer to this question.

Ideally, in a good democratic society, people would decide democratically what the minimum "bar" is, and anything below that is considered neglect. We already do this to an extent in the US, with "CPS" in many states taking kids away if they're found to be abused or neglected. Usually, though, CPS is criticized for allowing too much abuse before they intervene (or just being plain incompetent, or overworked/understaffed, etc.), rather than being too heavy-handed (though this happens too occasionally). Societies do have a right to decide on minimum levels of acceptable conduct, and punish people who don't conform ("disturbing the peace" laws are an example of this). The main problem we have is our democracy isn't very good (too much corruption, bad voting systems), so the actions of the government can't really be assumed to accurately reflect the will of the people.

Comment: Re:Obvious Answer (Score 1, Troll) 665

by Grishnakh (#46483945) Attached to: Measles Outbreak In NYC

How about denying medical insurance coverage to those that fail to get vaccinated, unless they can demonstrate that they are a member of a recognized religious congregation that specifically is against vaccination as a part of church dogma?

No. I'm sorry, I don't see this as a valid excuse. Freedom of religion has gone too far; if you can't properly take care of your kids, they should be taken away from you.

Comment: Re:Just like where I work ... (Score 1, Insightful) 165

Again, this should all be covered by the company that wins the bid. If they don't like it, they shouldn't bid on the contract.

>because most of the requirements are out of date,

Contractor's fault. If the requirements are impossible, tell the customer and don't bid.

>were written by somone who had no idea what they were asking for

Same as above.

>or are missing critical pieces of functionality or details.

Same as above.

>Then you find out you need to integrate with a 35 year old Wang mainframe that runs some weird esoteric algorithm that no one alive understands.

If that's in the contract you signed, you need to do it. If it isn't in the contract, don't do it, or re-bid for that portion.

This would all be much simpler if both parties simply adhered to the terms of the contract. If the terms are unrealistic or impossible, don't bid.

Comment: Re:Just like where I work ... (Score 2) 165

The problem with privatization is that it ends up being worse than having the government do it directly, because there's no consequences for failure. Several companies bid on the project, but they low-ball the bid to win the project because the lowest bidder almost always wins. But then the project costs much more, and somehow the government is on the hook for these cost overruns, instead of the contractor being responsible (since they did, after all, bid a certain amount). The problem here is the government agrees to contracts which allow enormous overruns at the government's expense. If the contractor fails, what's the penalty? At worst, they get dismissed (and keep all the cash) and someone new takes over.

It's simple: make the bids binding, and if the contractor fails to meet the terms, they pay to get it right, and if they can't, they forfeit their company and the officers are all personally responsible.

Comment: Re:And is there a real problem? (Score 1) 221

by Grishnakh (#46473345) Attached to: Silicon Valley's Youth Problem

There's a phrase that might apply here: "None of us is as dumb as all of us."

The fix isn't impossible, but it's difficult because of entrenched moneyed interests and people who support these because they blame the "other side" for all the problems. The conservatives blame the liberals, the "gay agenda", etc. for all the nation's problems, and the liberals blame the conservatives, the Koch Brothers, etc. for all the nation's problems. Neither of them blame the leaders on their own political side for the problems. The fix is to toss out all the leaders (on both sides), and rework the government to prevent the same things from happening again, such as by overturning Citizens United and writing new legislation to get money out of politics, to mandate a more fair voting system (proportional voting or Condorcet method or approval voting etc.), and likely a whole new Constitution. Good luck getting changes that large pushed through though. You can't even do the first two points because neither "side" is in favor of it (it would drastically reduce their power), and the last one is nearly impossible without a full revolution.

This is why countries never tend to get better, they always degenerate, until there's some giant war or bloody revolution to wipe the slate clean and start over. Think about it: when was the last time you heard of a country reforming itself voluntarily and getting much better, without a lot of violence? Look at the Roman Empire for instance: it decayed and then collapsed. It took Europe 1000 years to get back to that level of civilization and technology. Look at European countries now; sure, they're great places to live for the most part, but you can thank WWII for that.

Comment: Re:I went back to corporate America because Obamac (Score 0) 552

by Grishnakh (#46472969) Attached to: White House: Get ACA Insurance Coverage, Launch Start-Ups

This is exactly what I saw, and I'm just married without any kids. Huge monthly fees (not as high as yours though, remember I don't have kids), and ridiculously high deductibles. And I'm in a blue state. I went back to work in corporate America, but I'm a contractor so I don't get free healthcare.


Top U.S. Scientific Misconduct Official Quits In Frustration With Bureaucracy 165

Posted by timothy

Comment: Re:Life sciences unemployment (Score 1) 221

by Grishnakh (#46468701) Attached to: Silicon Valley's Youth Problem

It's not that research labs would hire coders to look for cures for cancer (they wouldn't), the problem is that people go into IT or programming professions, rather than getting degrees in biochemistry (or whatever is best for doing cancer research). And the reason people do this is obvious as you pointed out: the unemployment rate is very high, and that's for PhDs, who are precisely the people you want doing important research like that. It simply doesn't pay to spend years of your life in school getting multiple degrees, (and doing doctoral research that your professor takes all the credit for) and then find that you can't get any kind of job when you're done, and certainly not one that'll pay for all those hefty student loans you've racked up over the last 8 years. Meanwhile, all your friends who went into CS and got out after 4-5 years are getting paid 6 figures and have little trouble finding jobs.

Comment: Re:And is there a real problem? (Score 5, Insightful) 221

by Grishnakh (#46468607) Attached to: Silicon Valley's Youth Problem

the problem is the original article is talking about the supposedly best and the brightest of IT ... seen as leaders of their profession. When many of the leaders are simply out to make as much $$$$ as fast as they can many others adopt the same mentality. There is little movement of working to help for the greater good of society. It's how much can I get and how quickly can I get it?

This isn't just IT, this is everywhere in American society these days. Our own political leaders are no different; they're obviously corrupt to the core, and only in it for the money and power, and don't do anything to actually improve the state of our society, which is why our roads are falling apart and our bridges collapsing, while our taxes are sky-high (in the areas where good paying jobs exist). Basically, our society is just falling apart, because no one really cares any more, and why should they? Our leaders don't, and our citizens are too dumb to elect decent leaders or hold them accountable.


How the NSA Plans To Infect 'Millions' of Computers With Malware 232

Posted by Soulskill

Comment: Re: Feds... (Score 1) 337

by Grishnakh (#46465095) Attached to: New Jersey Auto Dealers Don't Want to Face Tesla

I haven't read the article, but there's several reasons where doing things in NJ is ridiculously expensive:
1) property taxes are the highest in the nation. Alcatel-Lucent-Bell Labs is actually demolishing parts of its historic Murray Hill campus to reduce square footage, solely to reduce their property tax bill. Other companies have left the state, or threatened to leave and gotten special tax breaks, because of property taxes.
2) it's right next to NYC, and lots of New Yorkers have been moving over because Manhattan is so expensive these days and northern NJ is commutable by train and bus. This has driven up housing costs (which are then again compounded by higher property taxes).
3) corruption. This is probably one of the most corrupt places in the country, just behind Chicago.

Some people carve careers, others chisel them.