Post #28,671
2/16/02 4:54:01 PM
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A majority of the fault of Sept 11 lies on
the US Government and the wealthy corps that take advantage of the third world countries. The US Government failed to prevent the attack, and should have beefed up security at airports when warnings of Osama planning an attack on the US were made over a year ago. Plus the Federal Government slackened up security on background checks for H1B Work Visas and other means of getting aliens into the country, this is because US Corps petitioned and pressured the government to increase the quotas so they could get more cheap laborers.
Why does every third world country hate us? Because we allow our megacorps to pay children 15 cents an hour to make a $100USD shoe that gets sold back to the US. Our corps are out of control and causing problems in other countries. Since the greedy b*stards represent us, of course the third world people will hate all US citizens based on the actions of the Corps. If our government f*cks up, that is on us as well.
I do not agree with terrorism, nor do I think any terrorist act was justified. I am a non-violent person myself, and I feel that there is a need to protest the way things are being run by our government and by the corporations. We need heavy reforms, and auditing, and an overhaul of the way we do things.
I do not want to live in a world where people are more concerned over a Sports Team, a TV show, keeping up with their neighbors, making as much money as they can, etc over the health, welfare, psychological, and emotional and sometimes spiritual well being of the less fortuneate out there that didn't get all the breaks, or have the luck of winning a lottery, or are just plain opressed or unlucky. Why spend a large part of your money for Sports stuff when we got people without houses starving to death? Why buy a yatch, when the people working under you can barely afford their morgage? What has happened to humanity that has f*cked us up so much that we no longer care about anyone but ourselves?
We need a new way of thinking, a new way of living, a new way of caring that we have had before. There is no need to blow up anything, or attack anything, just change the way you do things so that others don't suffer.
The real power is in the consumers, just stop consuming. Teach greedy corps that you will no longer support them. Only buy from small businesses, grow your own food in a garden, buy stuff from garage sales and fle markets, learn to make stuff yourself. Shut out the greedy and evil corps, boycott their products. Don't vote for anyone who is bought and paid for by the megacorps. If you can, vote independant party members into office like the Reform Party. Listen to the other groups besides the Republicans and Democrats. Stop being consumer cows who only buy what you are told to buy. Don't listen to commercials anymore. Just shut the TV off, and stop listening to the radio. If a company advertises a product, don't buy it. Only buy what you need and save up your money, and use what you can to help out other consumers who are hurting.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,680
2/16/02 7:18:12 PM
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Why, then, do they work for the greedy corps?
Probably because the greedy corps are paying more than anyone else.
Why don't the greedy corps pay the locals even more?
If they wanted to, they couldn't, because it would destroy the local economy. Perveyors of goods would raise prices to take advantage of those working for the greedy corps, and anyone who couldn't get a job at a greedy corp would have to go without food and clothing. These economies have to be brought up in stages, and as equally as possible. Greedy corps paying a bit above local wage will help, if there are enough of them.
Why buy a yacht? Well, because you would enjoy one. As a side effect, it happens to employ a large number of people who build, sell and maintain yachts, who might otherwise go hungry. Checked what it costs to maintain a yacht lately? All that money is going to people who need jobs. Same for sports teams. Sometimes the most "worthless" activities are the ones most efficient at injecting money into the local economy.
Now, you are right that controls have to be placed, and execs of megacorps are currently spectacularly overpaid, and people should pay attention to who they are electing. The disparity of earnings will eventually make the U.S. into a 3rd world country if not controlled. Third world countries always have a few spectacularly rich people and everyone else poor.
Don't vote for Democrats or Republicans? Well, you have to be careful there too. Remember, it was Florida Nader voters who elected President Dubya.
Basically, if you have money, spend it. Others need the jobs. If you have a lot of money, spend a lot of money, even if it means buying a bigger yacht - keep enough to secure your own future so you won't become a burden on others late in life. Sometimes the greedy megacorp is providing the best value and deserves the business, sometimes not - but at this point in our economic / population cycle, buying just what you need is likely to result in economic collapse.
Probably your job (or next job if you haven't gotten one yet) depends on people buying things they don't need.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #28,686
2/16/02 8:27:38 PM
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Re: Why, then, do they work for the greedy corps?
Good points. Unless someone spends money, people don't earn money.
The dilema seems to be the issue of who has the most discretionary power to spend money & the envy it attracts.
A solution that argues that we all should have equal discretionary spending power is totally unrealistic - hasn't worked since man moved on from tribal living. If we are able to agree that equallity of earning capacity is near impossible to implement, the issue becomes one of who deserves to earn more than others. Once we get to this point we are back to where it is possible & probable that some people will become wealthier than others & this begats envy which begats attack.
On a national level US is a very wealthy country, US spends big & that boosts economies of other nations. Envy is that US has the most discretionary spending power & the perception that US keeps it that way (trade imperialism).
Seems to me this is a can't win & perenial problem - who ever is currently at the top is & will be a target of those down the heap.
Cheers
Doug
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Post #28,695
2/16/02 9:04:36 PM
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But I don't see that happening.
True, the corps >COULD< help the local economies.
But I don't know of many instances of that happening.
Usually it is just exploiting the cheap labour and non-existant environmental laws.
And, again, it wasn't the Nader votes that elected Bush. It was Bill and Al's behaviour during their 8 years that lost them those votes. I could have voted for Al. Maybe Bush wouldn't have been selected. But then it would appear that I was endorsing Al's platform (instead of opposing Bush's).
Maybe we need additional options on elections?
Vote for:
Vote against:
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Post #28,696
2/16/02 9:11:05 PM
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They way it really is
is that people work for these megacorps because they need the money to feed their family and pay for a house, etc. They take their kids out of school and then have them work for the Swoosh company, and then take the small amount of money they get paid and then use it to buy food, clothes, and then materials to build a house on property after they buy it. Not working those jobs, they cannot afford decent clothes, food, or property. They will live off the streets, live in tents, and go hungry for many days unless some kind soul gives them some food or money. They will scrounge up what they can, but most of the time they starve. The Megacorps know this, and they also know that if they fire them, they will go right back on the street and they can hire someone else's kids.
Did you really think that other countries had it as good as we do, or paid their employees as much as we get paid? If any country enforces rules against child labor and minimum wage laws, then that factory moves to the next country over and their people get upset that they lost out on earning money and get irate at the government.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,735
2/17/02 1:11:29 PM
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Remember our own industrial revolution.
Child labour.
12+ hour days.
Terrible working conditions.
But the factories never lacked for workers.
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Post #28,693
2/16/02 9:03:03 PM
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The truth shall set you free
..but first, it will piss you off (Gloria Steinem).
FWIW, I believe there is considerable emotional truth in your brief summary. Alas and until such time as (say) "excessive personal greed for objects, power, social notoriety" - is seen to be evidence of severe emotional illness ie an unnatural perversion which operates only where there is little self-knowledge:
Not much is apt to change, including the consequences of a nation in which very many persons are ill - and behave accordingly. Thing is, this is a philosophical matter - about each individual's guess about 'what life might be for' yada yada. So we see that the problem, if it is a problem.. is simply untreatable by direct legislation.
Indirect legislation might.. begin to bring pressures to bear against the most egregious Corporate behavior. For ex. since we created the idea of a Corporation as an 'entity', so can we also expand the application of that fav word of the folk who want Nothing Changed (I've Got Mine, Jack): personal responsibility. Specifically and from recent events:
A CIEIO whose incompetence (or worse) causes the loss of allegedly protected retirement, medical funds of employees - can be made to reduce his personal assets to some bias level. We used to call that atonement (punishment can also be on the agenda - Three Strikes for Corporate recidivists: those who repeatedly skim benefits and kill organizations.) If it's good enough an idea to send the local 22 year old pot smoker to jail for 40 years, well then..
But none of the above can make a country 'well', as I'm sure you also understand. You can at least - do your part to raise your kids not to be slaves to Swooshes, not to fill bodies with junk food to get toys.. and not get carried away with the desire to own everything in sight. This is teachable, y'know? (by example, works best) Point out when they are being led! by their mindless peers - reward those acts which are not merely nonconformist but: thoughtfully so. This works.
Meanwhile - what we got is what we Really Believe In, as opposed to the fine words we tell the kids.. we 'believe in'. Can't hide that fact - from even a bright 6-9 year old. Best of luck raising a few antidotes.
Ashton
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Post #28,726
2/17/02 7:14:33 AM
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What a crock
If every third world country hates us, why do we have immigration restrictions? Seems to me if they hated us so much they wouldn't be wanting to come here.
U.S. Corps pay local wages. Comparing our wages to third world wages is comparing apples and oranges. Spain had a wonderful time in the 15-1600s stealing gold from the Americas because they thought it would make them rich. Instead it created a hyperinflation that they never really recovered from. Flooding a third world country with money will do a similar job on their local economy. Now if you want to give them hospitals and such, that is a different story. Of course that is expensive and you'll be wanting to pay for it somehow. Better hope Americans enjoy working a lot and making a lot of money because they will cost a lot.
What has happened to humanity that has f*cked us up so much that we no longer care about anyone but ourselves?
What jaundiced hovel are you living in?
There is no need to blow up anything, or attack anything, just change the way you do things so that others don't suffer.
I see, if we are simply nice to everyone, they will surely be nice to us. It's human nature isn't it? Now please explain Hilter how us being nice to him would have prevented all the destruction he caused. One could argue, and I would, if the U.S. or Britain was particularly nasty to him early on, we would have only had Japan in WWII.
Only buy from small businesses, grow your own food in a garden, buy stuff from garage sales and fle markets, learn to make stuff yourself.
And this from someone who signs "Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
Tell me, how long will it take you build your computer? And others will be building their own also right? Maybe you have Chip-O-Fab, a build your own chip factory in a box.
Modern economies are not easy things to have, but your silly prescriptions are not going to build a modern economy, you instead want a pre-renaissance ecomony. Good for you...now about that high-tech health care you'll be wanting if you get cancer...will you be paying that by check?
Gerard Allwein
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Post #28,746
2/17/02 3:06:15 PM
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We live in a world filled with lies
They want to migrate here because we have more money available that they can make here than in their country. It is sort of like Microsoft, you hate them, but you want to run the latest Windows software, applications, games, etc so you buy a copy of Windows.
What jaundiced hovel are you living in?
One I am about to lose because I lost my job and cannot find a decent job to work at because the economy is so screwed up right now that hardly anyone is hiring. Nobody is helping me pay my bills, I am sick and nobody is helping me to get well, plus I have seen many others in the same situation. I admit there are those that are worse off than me, but I hardly see anyone else helping them. When I worked, I was one of just a few that would give a homeless person $1 to $20 in change or spare bills so they could get a meal, or buy some new clothes, or whatever they needed to do. Everyone else treated them like dirt, ignored them, or just walked by and flipped them off. That is our society, "I got mine, screw everyone else!" mentallity.
I see, if we are simply nice to everyone, they will surely be nice to us. It's human nature isn't it? Now please explain Hilter how us being nice to him would have prevented all the destruction he caused. One could argue, and I would, if the U.S. or Britain was particularly nasty to him early on, we would have only had Japan in WWII.
Perhaps you forgot that we stayed out of the war until 1941? Remember Perl Harbor? Should we have attacked the Axis Powers after they invaded France? It seems to be standard US policy to just ignore it until it gets out of hand. Be the Fire fighter and not the Fire preventor. There was a problem after WWI, in which Germany and other countries were given a heavy finacial burden. Conditions became so bad, that people were willing to believe a madman like Hitler who claimed he could make it better. I believe myself that violence should only be a last resort and used when there is no other alternative. But in the case of another Hitler, if we have proof that there is another person just like Hitler out there, then maybe we may have to strike first. But we better have all of our facts, and know that nothing else, besides a military strike, will do any good. What am I talking about? All we do is fly airplanes and jets there to do bombing raids while our troops camp out in tents and drink coffee and other stuff. Just clusterbomb them, and all the other areas around the terrorist/enemy camps. Heck, why not just nuke them, so much easier? No need to put any troops there. Just use stealth technology on our missiles and then say they were building a nuclear bomb, and it must have went off by mistake?
Tell me, how long will it take you build your computer? And others will be building their own also right? Maybe you have Chip-O-Fab, a build your own chip factory in a box.
I bouilt my own PC system from parts that I bought from a small company. It would be cool if I could have my own chip factory here in the US. Sort of a Willy Wonka meets Star Trek kind of thing?
Modern economies are not easy things to have, but your silly prescriptions are not going to build a modern economy, you instead want a pre-renaissance ecomony. Good for you...now about that high-tech health care you'll be wanting if you get cancer...will you be paying that by check?
Cancer is uncurable, so far. If there is a cure, please direct me to the place to get the cure from. Maybe some formula that George Washington Carver made out of peanut oil works?
Remember a time when most US citizens had their own farm? Simple, just have most US citizens own their own business and then deal with each other on a barter, exchange, or trade system. Everyone has something that someone else wants. This way the family wealth can be protected by a limited liability corporation, and the wealth can be distributed based on the LLC rules.
No more need for lawyers if software is set up properly on the Internet. All you would need them for would be court dates and other stuff where you appear before a court or judge. Accounting also can be done by software, as well as insurance policies, etc.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,750
2/17/02 3:36:41 PM
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Re: We live in a world filled with lies
Norman, sometimes I'm not sure if you're a sage - but the above is assuredly a truthful observation. 'Lies' R Us. Now: worldwide.
And as to "the need for a modern economy" - supposedly a mere rhetorical question? There's the pain & suffering of millions of Muricans - as they accept, cannot evade the yoke of 24/7 mercantile time ownership. They see their children left unattended during formative years -- see 'health' reduced to "your money or your life", while eating really shitty 'fast' food: having lost the capacity to afford the pleasure of "dining" (out OR at home). Note the irony of taking extra jobs so as to be able to buy lots of cute toys.. then have zero time to use these toys, or to live IN that $350K house - driving that $35K car which sits in the Co. parking lot most days. Stir well and bake.
And notice that other countries set quite different priorities = also TAX priorities - to achieve one hell of a lot more humane a safety net. Even recognize that children need attention and people Need vacations! Maybe we are the Individualist Welfare State - a suitably schizophrenic religion for the US (?) - capable of accomplishing *neither aim* with any class..
Still and all.. what we got here? is beside any point. You gotta try to erase that familiar tape that plays in your head ~ life is a bucket of shit. Probably if you could erase that - you'd begin to experience calmness, and without the Pharm-Chem product du jour. From that point you could carefully assess some different ideas about earning $. Daily despising of your ex- lawyer-scum is unrewarding -- there are too many for you to give them equal-time negativity: And that wasted energy COSTS you <<<
You cannot have considered all new possibilities, as change daily: they are infinite. You are just looking through that habitual tunnel = a constant state of living in emergency mode. It's a loop, dontcha know?
Jump Indirect to Self.
Find some way to stifle that mind chatter. If you cannot achieve some peaceful state next - you will stay in this death-loop. (There are people quite familiar with Murican daily mind chatter, who can help you see it for what it is. Go find one.)
Cheers,
A.
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Post #28,758
2/17/02 5:40:26 PM
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Lies R Us
Am I a sage, or do I just see and tell the truth?
We are led to the slaughter, and I am punished for pointing it out to people. it is, as you said, they work us hard and take away a lot of our time so that we cannot spend it with our families or spend it using the stuff they are making us buy. That is why I don't have a $35K car or $350K house, I drive a beaten up 1987 economy compact car and have a house over 12 years old in a part of the county that hardly anyone else wants to live in.
Take it from Europe, they make it a law to give them employees four weeks vacation at a minimum. Most jobs in the US are lucky to get two weeks, and usually not two weeks at a time, but spread over different parts of the year in one or two days clumps. No sabbaticals to visit family for a month, a limited amount of sick days, and 7 minutes a day to go to the bathroom. Anymore than that, and we get in trouble for a bathroom break.
"Life is a bucket of shit" and someone supersized my order to that Giant Jumbo Bucket of shit that I didn't want. Can I change that tape that plays in my head? I've tried to do that for thrity years, but my mental illness keeps changing the tape back to the "life is a bucket of shit" one. My former employer made things so bad for me, that it may take me years to get back to where I was around 1997 before I was employed by them.
All I am doing is telling the truth about the way things are, and if I am being blacklisted for telling the truth about corp greed and unfairness, then it just shows what dark forces are at work in our economy, government, job market, and society.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,851
2/18/02 5:22:22 PM
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I have a simple solution...
having dealt with many people who have had mental illnesses. I say it's simple because it's simple to say... to internalize takes practice.
You only have to remember two things:
1. Yesterday is unimportant. Stay focused on today and tomorrow.
2. People do not make you angry. You allow yourself to become angry by what people do.
If you will do me a favor, commit these two sayings to memory and use them whenever you feel like shit.
To be completely honest, I have been following your posts for a few weeks and wanted to say something. I understand exactly how you feel about life and tend to agree - when I allow myself. What I have come to realize is that I cannot affect the "world", only my little slice of it and I try to act in a manner consistent with my beliefs. I am honest with everyone, I do not try make others look bad, I give to the less fortunate, I hug my son at least 10 times a day, etc... The other thing that I have come to realize is that life is very short, only so many years, months, weeks, days, minutes, seconds. It is a waste of precious time getting upset about things that I cannot control.
Change the tape. Do something constructive to help your ex-peers in the lawfirm if it will help your sense of justice. Do it in your spare time though, and don't let it consume the precious minutes you have remaining. Idle hands lead to idle minds, so keep yourself busy before starting your next career.
FWIW, I (like most everyone else on the planet) and my sanity are on a razor's edge. Deep down I constantly keep watch on the house of cards we call our economy, our safety, my children's future. But day to day I keep my eye on the road directly in front of me, you never know what could jump out in front of you.
Just a few thoughts,
Screamer
"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution, take a bow for the new revolution, smile and grin at the change all around, pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday..."
P. Townshend
"Nietzsche has an S in it"
Celina Jones
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Post #28,754
2/17/02 4:29:32 PM
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Barter doesn't work - that's why we have money.
What is a fair exchange in barter goods or services for what you have to barter? So easy to get victimized when there's no "market price", and so much time negotiating a deal. Are you a good negotiator?
What to do when you need food and nobody who has food happens to need Visual Basic programming just now? OK, that can happen even in a money economy, but it's a lot worse in a barter economy.
Money is an agreed on token for units of value. It allows market comparison, and it allows you to deliver value to B, who wants your services, even though B has nothing you want and C is the one who has what you need. You exchange the tokens given to you by B for C's goods.
I remember a big push for a barter economy in LA, back in the 70's. The glaring inadequacies became obvious pretty immediately, so one group came up with a fix. In the money economy, we call it a "Debit Card", but they thought the concept was pretty revolutionary.
They even came up with a way for new participants to get into the new economy, even though they didn't yet have anything in their account. In the money economy, we call that a "Credit card", but they thought it was a really amazing concept.
Unfortunately, computers were not yet universal, so they had no way to keep the accounts straight and the concept died on the vine. Saved them all from the inconvenience of going to jail for running a bank without a license.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #28,759
2/17/02 5:43:16 PM
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Coupons!
Instead of money give out coupons, good for one whatever, or product or service. Then someone can buy, sell, or trade the "30 hours of VB Coding" coupon I gave out for that DVD player to someone who needs it.
ys you are correct, it was tried before they kept accurate computer records. I wonder if it would work in today's economy and technology?
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,775
2/17/02 9:52:10 PM
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Yeah! Coupons! Hey, I've got this great idea!
We'll make the coupons out of paper, about six by two inches or so. To make it hard for people to pretend they have coupons when they don't, we'll print a really complicated design on them, including a picture of some old fart nobody knows about any more.
What color should they be? Well, green would be nice...
Regards,
Ric
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Post #28,776
2/17/02 10:04:20 PM
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Not realy
I was thinking more of a three inch by three inch design, black and white, with a barcode on it that any "Cuecat" or barcode reader could read. The barcode will contain a serial number, and the person taking the coupon can scan it to check if that serial number was used already or if it is valid. For under $200 you could have a PalmOS based unit to read the coupons.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,777
2/17/02 10:12:30 PM
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So, I guess you're going to run right out . .
. . and spend $200 so you can take coupons instead of $20s? If you're woried about the $20s, they have these little brown pens costing a dollar or so . .
Now these serial numbers - I presume they'll be cleared through Microsoft's passport servers? Or do you have another national service in mind?
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #28,781
2/17/02 10:49:28 PM
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Her Wryness the LRPD sez: "Escape from the prison planet."
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Post #28,782
2/17/02 10:53:37 PM
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Cheaper than a cash register POS system
plus there is no need to use a server to store serial numbers on. If I issue X Visual BASIC coupons, I already know the serial numbers on the coupons I issued and stored them on the PalmOS unit. They PalmOS unit can read them and verify them. If someone decides to photocopy the Coupons, then I'll know it when I scan one and it tells me that the serial number has already been used.
It is sort of like, I Norman, promise to give the bearer of this coupon 30 hours worth if Visual BASIC programming. They can come back to me to get the work done, or trade/buy/sell it to someone else. With the PalmOS unit I can go to their site, scan the coupon and then code in Visual BASIC for 30 hours on their computers. If the coupon is a dupe or the serial number is not in my database then I'll know it was a fraud, and I wouldn't have to do anything except report it to the Police or something, find out where the bogus coupons came from.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,788
2/18/02 2:14:44 AM
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Holes you could drive a planet through.
Where there's opportunity for fraud, there will be frauds. They'll gather like flies on a dead possum.
Now, just suppose Visual Basic programmer Melvin issues a coupon for 30 hours of programming. Well, the guy that received them couldn't use them and didn't know anybody who could, so he sold them on eBay. The buyer calls Melvin in. Melvin pushes the magic button on his Palm Pilot. "Jeez man, I don't know where you got this coupon, but it's serial number has already been cashed in. Sorry, no programming. I ought to call the cops, but I'll let you off this time."
Coupons have just become high risk, thus a 30 hour coupon has to be grealy depreciated, which means nobody wants to take coupons. Norm has to issue 90 hours of coupons instead of 30 hours to buy food.
Here's another. George needs Visual Basic programming to modify his software. He sees somone trying to sell some Visual Basic programming coupons, but those are Norm's coupons and his program was written by Melvin. It'll take a long time for Norm to figure out what Melvin has done, so those coupons are nearly worthless to George. On the other hand, a stack of $100s would buy time from any programmer George wanted to use, so he doesn't buy coupons, so coupons become more difficult to sell.
And here's another. Norm needs his car fixed, but the mechanic can't use any Visual Basic programming, so he'll have to trade or sell the coupons. This takes time and involves risk, so Norm has to give him twice as many hours of programming as the mechanic work is worth to cover the overhead. Of course, the guy who ends up with the coupons wants the full face value from Norm. It would have cost Norm only half as much to get his car fixed if he'd paid in $20s.
I could go on and on, but I have some programming that needs to be finished tonight.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #28,803
2/18/02 10:22:30 AM
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Forget it then!
Nothing I can do is good enough. I think I'll just move my wife and son into an apartment she can afford, and then join Desitter living under a bridge somewhere so we can talk about how messed up the world is.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,807
2/18/02 10:51:35 AM
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Norm...you do realize...
that every great idea, at the time, was considered totally idiotic. One businessman went so far as to check with people regarding his idea....if they didn't tell him he was crazy, the idea wasn't far-out enough.
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Post #28,811
2/18/02 11:19:25 AM
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dont forget to email me which bridge you and doc
are under so I can bring liquid refreshments and gummint cheese.
thanx,
bill
Mike Doogan
"Then there's figure skating and ice dancing and snowboarding. The winners are all chosen by judges. That's not sports. That's politics. And curling? If curling is a sport, pork rinds are a health food."
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Post #28,867
2/18/02 9:09:39 PM
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I will do that
Me and D are not that bad yet that we have to live under a bridge. But if we do, I'll see if I can pick out a location and a few alternates in case the cops move us or something. I've seen a lot of homeless near the Metrolink station stops, I imagine one of them will wonder near the tracks sometime and squish, one less homeless person on the streets.
I may just camp out downtown in an area that my ex-coworkers walk nearby, holding a sign that says "XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX, LLP made me homeless" and see their reactions. :) Replace the X's with my former employer's name.
But I have a plan, if I have some money left, I can rent a storage cube and live in that. If I can, I'd get on a library computer and email you the location of the cube. I learned from the Boy Scouts how to make a burner element from a coffee can, a tuna can, a ton of candle wax, and some cardboard. Should be enough to fry some handburgers and other stuff if I can afford it. Just melt the wax into the tuna can, put the cardboard into a coil shape, let it set, and then light the son-a-b*tch when you want to cook and place the coffee can over it making sure to cut three or four airholes on the side of the can. Then to turn it off, just put the coffee can that has the lid on it over the tuna can.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,824
2/18/02 1:48:41 PM
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Ya know.
If your wife and son can afford an apartment on thier own, don't you think maybe they'd "let you" hang around and contribute your $9/hr to the household, cramped as it may be? You could sleep in the closet or something? I'm sure the family would appreciate the company rather than worrying about how your self-imposed exile is going.
Also, I'd bet all the good bridges (near the 'Y' and such) are already taken.
--
Chris Altmann
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Post #28,866
2/18/02 9:00:47 PM
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It is not about that
it is that I am embarrassed that all I can find is A $9/hr Helpdesk job with all of the experience and qualifications I have. I feel like Marvin the Depressed Android from HHGTTG, "Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and they have me answering calls at a helpdesk...." Not only that, I have to limit my abilities so that I do not outshine the others, because once one person tells a customer how to fix a problem, they expect the others to do that as well. So no registry tweeks, no shortcuts, no advanced configuration of home networks, nada ziltch. Just get them online with one modem (or network card), one machine, and a Windows or MacOS operating system. Try to keep calls under 30 minutes (20 at best) and follow their script and use their logical path and hope that someone in an orange vest doesn't come over and tap me on the shoulder and ask me to put the customer on hold and take a walk with them.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #28,802
2/18/02 10:20:10 AM
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Norm - here's your idea in action
From Time's site - [link|http://www.time.com/time/asia/features/changed_japan/yufu.html|No Yen? No Problem! - Small town bartering] Recession-ravaged residents of this tiny hot-springs town found a way to improve their standard of living. Stuck with low-paying and seasonal tourism-related jobs, Yufuin's citizens solved a chronic yen-flow problem by boosting the local monetary supply: they print their own currency.
...
Every yufu user is required to sign the notes they issue. Ultimately they will be called upon to redeem those notes by performing a service for the bearer. The specter of weeks spent washing other people's clothes after a yufu spending spree at the sake shop effectively limits the money supply. The moral: being your own central bank isn't so much fun when the yufu stops here. Darrell Spice, Jr.
[link|http://home.houston.rr.com/spiceware/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #28,796
2/18/02 9:57:06 AM
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Growlf...your right...but your reasons are wrong.
Norm, in short you are arguing that the US Government should've done more to prevent the attack.
However it is (imo) impossible to prevent the possibility of attack...it is impossible to prevent someone from taking an action.
We could've increased security at airport...made it harder for them to get in. But that would've meant that some other action would've been taken - there's always a vulnerability.
And I don't agree with your statements regarding 3rd world countries. A lot of them do hate us (imo) but not because their kids are working at 15c an hour. I think a lot of them hate us because we (as a nation) act in our self interest (rather than theirs). We'll put a dictator in power (and support them) who'll rob the people blind (and kill them) if he'll support the USA. (Saudia Arabia may be a perfect example of this.)
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Post #28,839
2/18/02 4:06:24 PM
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Correct.._____and correct.
Stripped of the inevitable tangential mutterings we *all* love to embroider with + the luxury of 20/20 assessment (the only magical 'causality' we ever see == always looking *back* and then seeing / saying.. D'Oh!) It does resolve to just as simple as - your remarks. IMhO too.
Still.. given that the yet unFaced -->| National angst over the entire tissue of lies and self-deception and jingoism as led us into adolescent spasm-war in Vietnam / the dehumanizing of that population into
A) Commyunists! (and Not Aryan) ergo Not-human
B) Not-human ergo: *$^($#$ Gooks, Slopes, ___
C) So it's OK to bomb those vermin back to the stone-age...
D) And.. We Did. *We*. Period.
We must remain vigilant for the recurrence of that level of frustration (with getting Our Way) which can lead the US into a replay of using all our demonic weapons; see A) thru D).
And fucking well make sure there ISN'T a replay tantrum <---
Ashton
who could list 50 massive vulnerabilities of our self-indulgent comfort-besotted kultur - easily attacked, Next. And I'm not even that smart.
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Post #28,931
2/19/02 12:03:15 PM
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Yeah, we robbed bin Laden blind.
He grew up poor and depreived because he stole all his lunch money. That's why he hates us.
Oh, wait a minute. he's a billionarire because of Western investment in Saudi Arabia. never mind.
[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html|http://www.angelfir...e/index.html]
Sometimes "tolerance" is just a word for not dealing with things.
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Post #28,938
2/19/02 1:12:49 PM
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Didn't you argue...
He grew up poor and depreived because he stole all his lunch money. That's why he hates us.
Oh, wait a minute. he's a billionarire because of Western investment in Saudi Arabia. never mind.
Didn't you argue that bin Ladin attacked us out of 'envy'? (Glad to see you now recognize his financial wealth already dominates most of 'us'. Interesting concept of 'envy' you have.) In any case, he's a billionaire because he's family is, what, the 2nd richest family in Saudia Arabia behind the Royal family? So..I don't think it has anything to do with his 'lunch money'. More likely, it has to do with the beliefs of his countrymen and himself - which seem to be far more fundamental than that the Royal family. He might believe, for instance, that if the US wasn't backing the Royal family, he would be in charge and run things as Allah wanted. (Of course, the US backs the Royal family because they do things as the US wants and not as how Allah wants. ;-) But that's a different story.) As for my general allegation - Panama, Iran, Philippines, Nicaragua, Cuba....all countries where the US backed leaders that were robbing/killing their people blind. (and that's off the top of m' head!)
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Post #28,948
2/19/02 2:28:16 PM
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I kinda see your point....
We really do have a goal-oriented, progress-oriented, technology-oriented, travel-oriented, work-hard and play hard, time is money,
have-to-have-that-product approach to life. When you stop and think about it...its messed up. But such is the rich tapestry of life. Its not any particular service/device which seems wrong. There is a guy in Djibouti charging you 3 eggs to circumcise your goat and bless your family with the ashes of the burned foreskin. Why do I care?
What is disturbing is that we have a (seemingly) insatiable need for all these things and when all is said and done......after we piss away the best years of our lives so we can stay on this "ride" which is the consumer driven economy......we don't seem one bit happier for it. The seams of our lives are joined with glue called "needs and wants". We sell ourselves by pandering to the "needs" of a company. We try to persuade corp. America that they need our skills so much that they are prepared to pay us X dollars each week. Wy do we engage in this demeaning practice?....because America inc. has successfully persuaded us (collectively) that we really NEED to have premium cable channels, DVD players, minimum two and a half baths, a new car every 2 years, piano lessons for the kids, sneakers made from hi-tech materials, the latest diet craze, the latest health machine, a vacation to Aruba, a big TV, extra-green
lawns, Britney Spears new CD, Pizza with cheese in the crust, a device for turning chickens while they roast, the George Foreman
grilling thing, extra double latte, a $5 bag of popcorn at the movie theater, whiter teeth, dog treats which smell like bacon, the Time Life "Best Hits Of The 70s", a new cell-phone, a bigger monitor, more computer memory, a personal digial assistant, Nintendo gamecube, High Definition TV, an inground pool, a jucuzzi sauna, Cable internet, special bags for protecting your food from freezerburn, new Oxiclean which cleans anything better, central AC, a bloomin' onion, an electric stomach muscle stimulator, skin enriching creams, expensive designer boxer shorts, a watch which works 50meters underwater, a nosehair trimmer, a clap-on clap-off device for the lamp,
a jewellery cleaning device, something to make your golf swing better, an expensive moutain-bike, a new snowboard, a GPS
device, night-time vision binoculars, a barbie-doll's house, a tree house for the kids, a teddy bear which talks back at you,
a trainset made from real wood, a mont-blanc pen, new surround sound speakers, Dolby Digital 5.1 amplifier, shirts which
don't wrinkle, pants which are "nice", no smudge mascara, healthier more vibrant looking toenails, better financial advice,
a home security system, motion detectors on the lights, a flashlight which charges itself, brigher whiter lightbulbs, toilet paper
which won't scratch yer bum, antifreeze which works at 60 below and 30 million above, better kitchen knives,
an ear-thermometer, some perfume for the air to make it seem fresher, bleach alternative Tide, anti-bacteria sneaker liners,
a device for rewinding VHS tapes, some golf clubs and maybe a trolley, contact lenses, a digital camera, a Dremel drill, an
Andersen sliding patio door, premium sound in the car, a TV in the kids room, a Zip drive, a Wagner paint sprayer, a John Deere
ride on lawn mower, a better nights sleep, an air humidifier, a dehumidifier, all-wheel drive, a juicer which juices garden stones,
pimple hiding cream, a Sing And Snore Ernie, a GameBoy, a HEPA-filter vacuum, pills for stomach ache, back ache, diahorrea,
constipation, red itchy eyes, blue balls ................. and.................................. the latest drug which will make you less anxious.
There is some argument that we should be pitied as much as we are envied.
-- William Shatner's Trousers --
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Post #28,972
2/19/02 5:08:24 PM
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Bravo!______..and, that's just the Short List_____
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Post #29,149
2/20/02 11:53:04 PM
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It is very simple to understand
just compare life today to 100 years ago in this country. We didn't have a lot of technology, but then people were not overworked to death and were a lot happier. People also didn't get so overweight, unhappy, and had a lot of time to spend with their family and friends. Whats up with that?
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #29,154
2/21/02 12:45:06 AM
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What's up with that? ____Why merely:
a fundamental misunderstanding about "what constitutes the Good Life", of course. Under a mistaken and potentially lethal misapprehension, the word 'progress' was coined -- the idea that...
If you Could do something ?__? - You Should! (later on, 'You Should' became.. You Must!)
Discrimination became deranged, as the noise level of Buy Me! No.. Buy ME!! rose higher + the chance to make EZ-Money by manipulating the appetites of the naive: focussed on their emotional vulnerabilities, so as to maximize your own profit - regardless of consequences to anyone else or to the society as a whole.
See how powerful is The Word?
Progress, being misunderstood - has nearly Fucked us all. Toss-up how it will turn out... since so many consumption-addicts have been created - and they copulate, you know?
Ashton
Explanations R'Us AG
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Post #29,164
2/21/02 6:40:17 AM
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One thing for sure
our founding fathers would be spinning in their graves if they knew what was going on in the modern USA. We got taxes out the wazoo, turned from a country of farmers into a country of consumers, our bill of rights keeps getting trampled on in favor of the megacorps, most US citizens do not care about the well-being of other US citizens, we got a homeless problem that hardly anyone cares about anymore, most people cannot seem to keep a job that will last them a lifetime (Corp downsizings, don't you know), and we have a new age slavery called wage slaves, etc. Plus most government officals are available to the highest bidder, so we have the best government that money can buy!
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #29,183
2/21/02 9:32:46 AM
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Not Them.. Us!_____Still looking for a scapegoat?
'We' did it to ourselves.
Remember those recreational shopping trips to the mall (when the $ was coming in regular like?) They are still Reeel popular - seem to provide gratification to the dullest of the unimaginitive, even as - both have to work to support the consumption habit, farm out the commodity child-care to other min-wage / no perks folk.
National credit card debt - the highest..
National personal savings - the lowest..
The Corps just pander to Our needs* -- exactly as do the (reviled) lawyers. If we weren't sue-happy spoiled brats with no sense of community - who would hire all those attorneys?
* except of course, as with Kraft (makers of LifeSavers\ufffd; now leaving Holland MI for Canada - because they can save money on sugar..) - Kraft will make a larger profit - but the consumer will see no price reduction. 'Our' needs are Not Their needs, we see. Still wanna buy LifeSavers\ufffd (or any Kraft ersatz cheese-like product) next ?? Or Walmart.. yada yada.
By all means: feed the monster who laughs at your predicament.
The fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves - to coin a phrase. Then too... "we are what we eat". But the cliches won't save us either..
The admin will keep the war for [oil] going so's yer 12 mpg SUV still ~looks good - and GM gives 0% loans so you can get a New One on credit - even as your jobs evaporate (and they have one of the most profitable quarters in history) because we swallow: Buy More on Credit Now! to Keep the Dream Alive. QED?
Nope.. It's US! not Them.
(Yeah Norm I know - you saved and planned wisely; never bought new toys just because they were there - and still got bit on the ass. Truly sorry that.. yer compassionate conservative friends will just have to chalk it up to - you weren't Individually Responsible\ufffd enough!) Them's the breaks.
Ashton
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Post #29,203
2/21/02 10:36:20 AM
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Just living costs money
If you own a car, you have to get it fixed. It will either drain your savings, or force you to put it on the card. Got sick? Need to go to a hospital? What do you use to pay the thousands of dollars on the bills that they give you. Dip into savings, or just put it on the card or make monthly payments (most hospitals around here want a paid in full, usually by credit card if cash or check is not available). Got a traffic ticket for going too fast (like everyone else, who honked at you for going too slow, and when you sped up, the cop clocked you at 3 miles over the limit) by an overzealous cop? Dip into savings again. Got a spouse and kids? You are going to pay more for them when they get sick, etc.
I have no big-screen TV, I don't have a DVD player (heck I wanted a Playstation 2, remember?), I have a 1987 economy car, I have an old house, and the only thing that I really spent money on was a faster computer with more parts to build another computer for use as a server. Am I "Living Large"? Not according to other people who have that nice new car (1987 car about worth $120-$300), the biggest screen TV they could not afford(Mine is a 1985 model 27 inches, resale value of about $50 now), a killer stereo system (I have a $15 Walkman clone from Wallgreens), expensive clothes (mine are mostly Hanes or Fruit of the Loom T-Shirts with a pocket. Some Polo-shirt clones for business causal days. Etc. All bought on sale.).
Well you get the idea. I had medical bills, car repairs, etc. Then I get accused of "living large" and spending too much money on junk?
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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Post #29,210
2/21/02 10:56:36 AM
2/21/02 11:00:05 AM
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One of the reasons....
....for the way business is becoming ever more ruthless and uncaring
is...paradoxically......because companies are now owned by a large
number of people (ie shareholders) who care about ONLY one thing.....
profit.
Many of us walk around feeling that we are reasonably moral and ethical
people in our dealings with the rest of society. What we don't realise
is that when we put our money into stocks......what we are inadvertently
doing is hiring somebody to go and do the f*cking over for us.
Once upon a time there used to be identifiable owners - some good some bad - who you could hold responsible for certain deeds.
Now this is no longer clear because we have depersonalized ownership. The owners are faceless wonders who don't even bother to vote at annual meetings. At best companies
are likely to behave only as well (or as badly) as the collective demands. I say at best, because into this managerial vacuum rush people with a boundless greed (they are addicts just like the majority). They line each others nests with quid-pro quo positions on the board ..... paying hundreds of thousands
of dollars for a sinecure.
So I agree with you...its "US" and we are doing it to ourselves.
The irony is that much of the wealth (and therefore share ownership) is still
in the hands of the few. The participation of the rest of us serves to legitimize behavior which is otherwise unconscionable.
Things won't get better until we stop thinking about how much we made last year
and start asking ourselves "is my neighbor okay?". What is totally absent is people asking themselves...."do I really *deserve* this".
DESERVE is a dirty word. How can it be any other way when we have state-sponsored gambling holding out the promise of untold millions, a tax system which is basically a game of hide-the-pea and a legal system with the capacity to make someone rich (or poor) in a New-York minute.
-- William Shatner's Trousers --
Edited by Mike
Feb. 21, 2002, 11:00:05 AM EST
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Post #29,251
2/21/02 1:20:21 PM
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Oh really.
We didn't have a lot of technology, but then people were not overworked to death and were a lot happier. What was the average life expectency? How long was the average factory work day? How long was the average farm workday? (hint: damn near every waking hour.) Not overworked to death? Give me a break. What happened when you got pneumonia? You died. What happened when you got tuberculosis? You died slowly. What happened if you got cancer? Well, they really didn't know about cancer much, and even if they had they wouldn't have been able to do anything about it, so you died. When a vicious little new strain of influenza swept around the world eighty years ago, millions died. You seriously want to tell me that people were, in general, happier? I think your vision is being clouded by the pictures painted by those few people who actually had free leisure time to enjoy life. Where each demon is slain, more hate is raised, yet hate unchecked also multiplies. - L. E. Modesitt, from his Recluse series
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Post #29,258
2/21/02 1:42:54 PM
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Not to mention...
there was/were no:
Social Security
401k
Health insurance
Unemployment insurance
(and anything else FDR gave us)
Of course, since life expectancies were much shorter back then, most people didn't need these things.
And back then, unions were broken up by men with clubs.
Ray
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Post #29,662
2/25/02 5:26:46 PM
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Interesting supposition...(good read)
...[link|http://blogsofwar.blogspot.com/?/2002_02_17_blogsofwar_archive.html#9996252|but not everyone agrees with you] Immediately after Sept. 11 I started reading outrageous statements from prominent leftists that shocked and saddened me. The Left does not speak for me on this issue. I find Michael Moore, Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky, Katha Politt, Susan Sontag et al's attempts to blame the U.S. for this mass murder ideologically weak and morally absurd. I have never felt more clearly my alienation from political movements in this country than I do now. To analyze the causation of the terrorists' actions is to accept their violence as a legitimate political expression. A very good read. You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #29,678
2/25/02 6:48:27 PM
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Hmmm. I disagree on several points
The idea that attempting to understand is excusing, for example. I have a pretty good grasp, I think, of what the terrorists were trying to accomplish. Pretty much the same as the KKK, really. I don't think my realizing that they are a bunch of bigots constitutes excusing their crimes.
The WTO remains a bad implimentation of a good idea, if you accept the PR. Frankly, it looks to me like an unwitting setup for a very large revolution that could pretty much take out the entire Western Civilization, but I have high hopes that petty squabbles between nations will keep it from getting to "let them eat cake - on the Internet!".
I didn't vote for Nader on his own terms. He was telling people not to vote for the lesser of two evils. I decided not to vote for the lesser of three.
I'm quite annoyed with the automatic Left. I'm watching the regime veer from the War on Terrorism to the War on All We Don't Like. And having blown their credibility asking "why" when the answers was still burning, there isn't going to be any valid critique going on. Kind of like when the Clinton-bashers were so busy sniffing the blue dress that he got away with all kinds of foreign policy and economic nonsense without anybody noticing. The dog was being wagged, but which was the tail?
----
"You don't have to be right - just use bolded upper case" - annon.
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Post #29,683
2/25/02 7:41:43 PM
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Well written
Emotionally sane and - intellectually honest, mostly. Multiply her anguish by the constellation of 'others', each of the victims. (But don't forget, while thinking of that - the victims in Nicargua, Guatemala, etc. People just as dead - just not so spectacularly. And no one to write eloquently of, even a few).
As an Econ type, you surely note the rather simplistic view she limns of "jobs - at Any cost" (of Corporate self-aggrandizement? say?). This cannot be simplied to such a slogan, but her points cannot be dismissed - either. And it's her story she tells, not anyone else's.
YAN illustration of the follies of labels like Left/Right (fortunately she stays with just the L-half of the dichotomy, and her own experience of that, as she grew 'up').
While I am as sure (as she) that there remain some people who still imagine the SLA et al - represented something other than a specialized-madness.. it is good that she speaks of the others - who still manage to question rote-Authority, and National performance all along - without making the leap..
"We Deserved WTC" QED.
When you parse the 'We' in that, and our antediluvian concepts of 'Deserve' - that I believe, is where the language fails.
Chomsky is a caricature; Moore was great at lampooning the hypocrisy of a GM and its cardboard-CIEIO - and much else. Taking either as political theorists is as unwise as taking the perverse inner world of Jerry Falwell as 'a good way to live here'.
An idiot is an idiot. These L/R labels didn't work and won't work -- hence dialogue about any workable political principles in Murica, remains a chimerical wish. Maybe the fact of 9/11 eventually - shall purge both houses of their most inane mouthings; shock 'us' into actually communicating about reforms (?)
Maybe.. but that would be unprecedented! and language has suffered greatly prior-to and throughout the ".com" language-warping as a Bizness staple. We'd have to make intentional and regular efforts to undo some of that 'innovation' before talk could even begin, without the slogans.
:(
Ashton
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Post #29,699
2/25/02 11:19:49 PM
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We did not deserve the WTC attacks
and beefing up security at the airports could have prevented the attacks. It is an insult that they snuck on boxcutters and used fake IDs to get into the country and get on the planes. This should not have happened if security and the government had been on the job and not asleep at the wheel. While I blame the terrorists for the attacks, I have to place some of the responsibility for the attacks on the US Government and the company running the security of the airports for not being able to detect or stop the terrorists.
"Will code Visual BASIC for cash."
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