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Comment: Re:"provides marketplace platforms" (Score 1) 67

by Ed Avis (#46503041) Attached to: Alibaba Confirms Plans To Offer IPO In US
I don't think market cap is a good measure of size. If it were, then during the dotcom boom various online pet food suppliers, etc, which had barely any assets, employees or customers, would have counted as 'bigger' than more boring companies with a much greater footprint in the real world. Similarly, a large company may head towards bankruptcy and as it does so its market cap heads towards zero. But even if it is sold for a nominal price of one dollar, it is still a big company by any reasonable measure.

Comment: Absolute top of 1925... (Score 2) 211

People who are absolutely at the top of the scale in 1925, for instance, would be getting food stamps today, said Greenspan.

Has Greenspan blown the dust off his Rolodex lately? I can't think of anybody with the last name "Rockefeller" or "Vanderbilt" in 2014 that's hurting for cash.

Comment: Just how out of touch is Greenspan? (Score 5, Insightful) 211


H-1B is not a path to citizenship, apparently by design. Green card holders can say "Screw you, I quit" without deportation, which is not what companies want when they reach for H-1B's.


H-1B's are competing for the bottom. Executives don't bring in indentured servants to be their own replacement, nor are meaningful numbers being placed into "rock star" slots (rock stars can command perks like actual green card status anyway). H-1B's only drive down the wages of the bottom, not the top, exacerbating wealth disparity.

Comment: Re:Sour grapes (Score 1) 255

by Phrogman (#46502635) Attached to: <em>Sons of Anarchy</em> Creator On Google Copyright Anarchy

Ah this "no-value-added middleman" is the guy who created the show, researched it, wrote it, his wife is one of the main characters and he acts in it as well. He is by no stretch a "middleman". I am not saying I agree with him - haven't read the article yet even - but he definitely on the creator side of things.

Comment: Re:The group's Board of Directors (Score 2) 67





Comment: Our model sucks (Score 1) 187

by bmajik (#46502151) Attached to: Eric Schmidt On Why College Is Still Worth It

Places with state-paid or state-assisted university programs tend to have a sieve mechanism (like entrance exams) that sort people into programs of different cost (and life outcomes). E.g. a test determines if you enter vocational school or a university program.

In the US, there is still a test-score aspect of things, but if you pay for it, generally, we let you do whatever you like. That's good, in its own way. Some people are tremendously motivated folks who are bad at taking tests. They ought to be free to choose a difficult path and rise to the occasion.

The problem in the US is the state involvement in financial aid. The policy of "college for everyone" may not make Americans smarter so much as it makes college dumber.

If the state has any interest at all in funding college educations (and this is debatable), presumably, that funding should go to people with insufficient means, better than average motivation and/or talent, and only in subjects for which there is a compelling state interest (I'm looking at you, STEM).

Furthermore, such financing needs to be contingent on them NOT taking a job on wallstreet when they are done. The public already funds those bozos enough; there's no reason to use federal scholarship money as a 4 year long interview for some wallstreet firm. Wallstreet can start doing its own talent recruiting. If those guys are as good as they tell their clients, it should be no problem for them to predict the "winners" and only offer private scholarships accordingly..

What also doesn't make sense is that the government allows anyone with a pulse to borrow 30k/year to go to school for 6 years and maybe get a communications degree.

This is simply not in the public interest, nor is it in the interest of the students, nor is it in the interest of the higher-ed system.

I absolutely agree that there is an education bubble. I think certain people should attend university in certain situations. I went to a small state school with an academic scholarship. I make the same amount of money as people who went to much more expensive places -- without scholarships.

I think University was valuable in my case -- but it was much cheaper back then, and my field has much higher salaries than average.

Comment: Re:Ozymandias (Score 1) 249

by Jeremiah Cornelius (#46501703) Attached to: Why San Francisco Is the New Renaissance Florence

Um, when you quote someone else's poem you really need to state the author's name.
For those who don't know, this one is by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Mr. Shelly and I are on first-name basis, despite his untimely expiration on the capsize of the Ariel, some two centuries nigh. I thought nearly all speakers of English to also be so familiar. Please forgive the oversight.

Comment: Re:Religion... (Score 1) 478

by mcgrew (#46501043) Attached to: Religion Is Good For Your Brain

Whether or not you were indoctrinated in religion when you were young and impressionable, if you haven't experienced God the only rational choice is that the question doesn't matter.

As to indoctrination, I think you're putting way too much weight on that. One fellow I drink with sometimes was brought up in a strict Baptist family in Kentucky, yet he is absolutely convinced that God can't possibly exist. Another guy I knew was brought up by atheists, and had a religious experience when he was strung out and homeless.

As to "why Jesus" it's because of what he taught (The Buddha was certainly full of wisdom, I learned a lot about Buddhists when stationed in Thailand). Basically, love everybody. Treat folks like you want to be treated. Don't judge.

I don't think Jesus and Buddha would have had much to argue about except that reincarnation thing, and maybe karma.

Comment: Re:Using 'songs' as units of measurement? (Score 1) 99

by Reziac (#46500695) Attached to: How Data Storage Has Grown In the Past 60 Years

What I've noticed since the, um, Great Migration referenced in your sig, is that slashdot now has a lot of posters I don't recall having ever seen before..,. some of every stripe, but generally without the fire in the belly, if you know what I mean. I think that, more than the current crop of articles, has caused a shift in tone.

I now spend more time on SN. Fuck beta!

All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy actors.