Hate this. Why keep the data where it can be encrypted and backed-up? Why keep it in a secure location as opposed to the Primary Investigator's (PI) office? Gah.

State wide we are being strongly encouraged to find alternatives to Adobe products. Adobe told the university system to eff-off and well as a state consortium of CIOs for state agencies.

fine by me, they are being assholes.

Yes, pure luck. A gentle breeze in 2006 could have blown Ford into bankruptcy - there were that close. Ford executives made clear at that time and for a couple years afterwards that they could very well approach the government for financial assistance. If Chrysler and/or GM went down it would have taken Ford as well: supplier networks are very intertwined these days.

You really don't understand how unions and contracts work, do you? It is not about protecting the poorest workers - why would any union member want to do that? It makes more work for everyone else and makes all look bad. It is about making sure the contract is followed (especially language pertaining to discipline and dismissal) in each and every case.

If a lousy worker is being kept around it is because a manager somewhere is too lazy to do their job and get rid of the worker.

Too many would rather pawn-off a bad worker on another department or group rather than document the problems, attempt corrective actions, and dismiss the worker if that action doesn't improve performance.

Pretty common if you were driving a 1971 Vega with its unsleeved aluminum block and cast iron head and ran with it low on oil and low on coolant as so many of them did back in the day.

These days cars require so little maintenance that many folks don't even bother with the tasks they should perform. Change the timing belt? Why? the car still runs.

So speaks the 1%, or the 1% wanna' be. Did we forget the 11 times Reagan raised taxes or how high he ran up the nation debt or how he declared open season on workers by crushing PATCO -and middle-class wages have stagnated ever since regardless of how productive the workers become or how much profit corporations rake in?

Amen!

perhaps they'll just go "old school" and park em in front o a TV set.

Already got burned by something like this when a nephew stayed with us for a few days. Children can be more clever than non-parents expect.

Was zero - but then the kid got a Wii, we piped Amazon Prime through it, and I discovered "Fringe." Since I am part-way through season 4 my viewing time will drop to next to nothing in the not too distant future...on this timeline anyway.

Used to be able to do things like that....but pushing fifty has taken care of it.

Don't be an idiot. Follow the contract which has provisions (Yes, they ALL do) to get rid of the bad teachers. If the school administrators will not do their jobs FIRE them and hire some that will. Same for the school board.

Too many bad administrators and school board members hiding behind the teacher's union contract - not bad teachers being protected by it

You don't need to set-up the bad teachers for a lawsuit that they'd win by shredding their contract.

The union and its members do NOT want poor performers in their ranks, why the hell would they? But they will, and must fight tooth and nail to protect their contract.

Really retired? Too often around here they "retire" to collect their pension, than are re-hired at an even larger salary while they collect their pension. We have pay so much to lure them back so we can continue to partake of their "experience."

See, such bullshit isn't 't just for Wall Street, it is right there on Main Street, too. The only more egregious double-dippers we have in my state are the twits that run *and get elected) to the state legislature...where they go to fuck-up education even more.

Looks like the fedora-wearing, big-boss union leader/gangster canard is out again. 1973 called and they want their generalization back.

The local union members elect their local union leaders from within their own ranks.

Baloney. Why would the union members that do their jobs want to protect the folks that aren't? Your argument does not hold water. Once an ineffective worker if fired, their replacement will generally be a member of the union as well - paying dues.

What is common to all unions is they will fight to protect the contract and make sure it is followed, regardless of whether the employee is a "good" one or a "bad" one - unions want the contract language to be followed - always and for everyone.

Because that needs to be said again.

The only lazy workers getting protected by unions (because they can blame their incompetence on the union) are lazy supervisors that refuse to do the job they are paid to do: supervise.