People without CS degrees tend to lack the vocabulary necessary to communicate efficiently with their peers about CS topics in situations where they are required to work on a team. Big "O" notation, names of algorithms, breadth of algorithmic knowledge, etc..

If you are not going to be working on a team (and it's the rare company who does not believe they will become larger in the future), then a portfolio of previous work is generally acceptable.

Because companies believe they will grow, you are most suited to being a consultant, or, alternately, working for a consulting firm.

I've frequently considered creating a "vocabulary test", along the lines of those multiple choice test games passed around on Facebook; the problem with doing that, however, is people would "learn to the test"; and while it would be a form of education for them, as a result they would successfully get their foot inside the door of place where they would ultimately not be successful. This would not be a service to either them, or the places which hire them. To be effective, it would have to end up growing to the point that it might as well be a certification exam. And still, people would learn to the test, instead of having any depth of knowledge necessary to communicate with those who do.

Really, the prison system is just slavery by another name.

As is explicitly provided for in the 13th amendment:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

(emphasis mine)

So if you don't like it, the legitimate path towards getting rid of it is amendment, as provided for in article 5.

Personally, I think the problem is far too many laws making crimes out of things that should never have been construed as criminal. And that can be approached one issue at a time if you can simply bring pressure upon the state or federal legislators. Sure, that's hard, but it's not nearly as hard as trying to pursue amendment, which seems to be basically impossible at this point in time.

Ok, so I grabbed a dictionary app that provides for zhuyin. The task here is to learn an entirely new alphabet with its associated sounds. Not sure that's an improvement, lol. Though I suppose if you have no preconceptions, as come with English-like spellings, It might work out well. I didn't have any trouble at all with hangul (Korean.) I'll give zhuyin a try; I appreciate the tip.

also... once I understood the alphabet issue, I went looking for zhuyin flashcards (under Android -- I use a Note 3)... nothing in the Amazon app store... play store has some things... quizzes.. no flashcards though. Hmm. I'll keep looking. I'll check for my iPad, too. Thanks again.

Because technology changes much more quickly than real world analogs, and sometimes everyone suddenly decides "OMG, if we don't have teh new stuff we're gonna die".

I've seen a lot of money thrown at fads which took resources away from things which actually add business value or generated revenue.

A brick and mortar business doesn't have the huge shifts which happen in tech, where all of a sudden completely unproven stuff becomes perceived as completely mandatory.

I've seen entire development teams pulled off core products which generated money in order to implement some crap buzzword technology which, in the end, nobody ever actually wanted and which didn't add business value. And by the time anybody realized that, the core technology which generated money had been left to rot for a period of time.

And, of course, unlike other industries .. management in tech frequently have no clue about tech, and therefore have no way of understanding the consequences of their stupid choices. They just think it's all interchangeable and subject to whatever idiotic whims they come up with.

Back when companies used to have roadmaps (do they still have those?), it was not uncommon for a bunch of tech people to be rolling their eyes saying "yeah, right, like we'll be making those in a year" as management told them about the wonderful (and completely meaningless) future of the company, only to be told something completely different in six months.

The people in the concrete business? They don't suddenly get told they'll be making stuffed talking animals in a few months.

I consider it a sad fact of reality that most tech execs are completely delusional, and truly believe that just because they say something based on whatever crap Gartner is selling, that in six months time it will be reality. And they're often too short sighted to realize that the crap we abandoned from six months ago isn't any more true than the stuff we'll abandon six months from now.

Because tech execs consider themselves visionaries, and visionaries aren't constrained by pesky things like reality.

Me, I'm betting anybody who has worked in tech long enough has a whole litany of stories about how the "exciting new future" turned out to be "yet another dud championed by idiots".

Yeah I agree, this silly waving of the national flag by conservatives is clear evidence of their lack of self-esteem.

Yet beyond monetary damages, the case has zero bearing on the modern technology industry, as both the MP3 music file format and the iPod itself have waned in popularity

Wait, what? People no longer use MP3s? They don't buy iPods?

This sounds like an odd claim ... I've got way more MP3s now that I did in 2005, and it's the primary way I listen to music. When I buy a CD (yes, I still do that) the first thing I do is rip it.

Sure, there are streaming services. But I'm betting lots of people still play MP3s on portable players.

It's not as glamorous, but saying MP3s have no bearing on the modern technology industry? I'm not buying that.

Regrettably the (conservative) right wing of USofA politics has years ago decided to laugh at such treaties and now we have an issue.

The 'Conflict of Law' legal specialists will be the only beneficiaries!

Or completely gone, and people will realize they've been bilked.

I believe they are going to realize that legally they aren't what they've been claiming they are, and that valuing them at however many billions of dollars is idiotic.

Between the extortionate prices they gouged Australians for to escape the shooting, and crap like this ... it couldn't happen to a bigger bunch of assholes.

From what I've seen over the last few months, I wouldn't trust these clowns, and wouldn't do business with them.

They're an overhyped startup with delusions of grandeur.

I was playing Mike Tyson's Punch out

Are you putting this forth as evidence you're an expert on racism? Really?

That's kind of like me saying "I know the struggles of blacks, because I own a Public Enemy album".

Seriously, WTF??? What the hell does playing a video game have to do with anything?

I'm not arguing that you are "wrong" merely that your argument omits the crucial element of property ownership in play.

Property ownership of a legal corporate entity doesn't mean that the parent entity can compel the owned entity to break the law. Corporations exist entirely under national laws of incorporation.

And Microsoft, the parent, cannot absolve Microsoft, the child, from the applicable laws.

So if it would be illegal for an Irish citizen to comply with this order without an order from an Irish court ... then Microsoft Ireland if it breaks the laws in Ireland would be pretty much screwed. Microsoft USA can't do an end-run around Irish law just because they can get someone outside of Ireland to do it.

I would sincerely hope Microsoft Ireland would face giant fines, and someone would be sent to jail.

Wholly owned subsidiary is the not the same as property. That wholly owned subsidiary is a legal entity in Ireland which is 100% subject to Irish laws.

Some American court doesn't have the jurisdiction to make that legal entity violate local laws. It's delusional to think otherwise.

Mere whim of the US courts doesn't mean Irish law can be ignored.

If the US get their way, no company on this planet would touch a data center that is remotely in league with a US based company with a 10 foot pole.

Which is precisely what companies should have been doing as soon as America passed the PATRIOT Act, which pretty much spelled out their claim to be able to do this.

US based cloud services have been tainted for years now, only now people are starting to realize the truth of it.

Some of us have been saying this exact scenario would happen for years.

When the US government decided American companies were an extended part of the surveillance apparatus, American companies became so embroiled in this as to be laughable. There is no way you ca trust an American company if you're outside of America.

How do you think those stocks are going to fare when everyone cancels contracts with Microsoft et al and flips you the bird?

This is why it's laughable when America says they're the champions of Liberty and Justice -- because they're actively fighting anybody else in the world getting that, which means the rest of the world knows you're lying, and is starting to not give a crap about what America wants.

The problem is that the US courts ruled that US law does apply in Ireland because Microsoft has a presence in both countries.

And you think that somehow the ruling of a US court absolves Microsoft from Irish law?

Because that's a complete crock of shit, and the only way Microsoft in Ireland exists as a corporation is under Irish law.

So, I'm sorry, but a US court cannot compel a foreign citizen or corporation in that country to break local laws just because there is a relationship with a US company.

The problem is that a US court believes it has the authority to make Microsoft Ireland violate the laws of Ireland, when Microsoft Ireland isn't under the legal jurisdiction of that US court. And that's simply not true.

Microsoft is saying "If you want this, go to an Irish court, but don't demand that we break the law for you".

A multinational doesn't want to comply with a valid court order?

No, the issue is if it truly is a valid court order.

See, if an American court decides that American laws are extra-territorial ... that is the point at which the rest of the world sends a big "fuck you" to America. (Which is long overdue anyway.)

And any sane country would say "OK, Microsoft, if you do this in violation of local laws, we're going to fine you a percentage of global revenues ... because our laws are now extra-territorial."

Microsoft in Ireland may be a wholly owned subsidiary, but it is a separate legal entity operating under the laws of Ireland, and incorporated under Irish law. You can't bypass the Irish courts because Microsoft US owns Microsoft Ireland.

It doesn't work that way.

The PATRIOT ends at the point where an Irish corporation, subject to Irish laws, is told to adhere to a court order by an American court, without consultation with an Irish court.

That's about as self entitled and delusional as you can get as a nation.

If corporations are legally people, then Microsoft Ireland is a citizen of Ireland, and not subject to US courts. Either way, Microsoft Ireland is 100% subject to applicable Irish law.

Maybe in some small way things are coming back around.

But the problem is that many of these abuses have already happened, or are still ongoing -- precisely because top level people spend so much effort undermining those Constitutional protections and making them "optional".

That the police no longer give a damn about probable means it'll be broken for years to come.

And until police start having actual consequences for crap like this, they'll keep doing it.