Comment Even better... (Score 1) 410
I've mostly given up mass media. If we can find something else to entertain ourselves without funneling money into the pockets of Greed then maybe something will change.
Comment Clementine (Score 5, Informative) 87
A fork of Amarok. http://www.clementine-player.org/
Comment Re:Too poor (Score 1, Informative) 341
That's exactly why we have Social Security - it forces people to put aside money so that, no matter what, they have something by retirement.
Comment Orwell's Road to Wigan Pier (Score 1) 870
George Orwell does a great job of discussing the ideas of the depression era with respect to the consequences of increased mechanization of labor. In many respects not much has changed. Highly recommended reading:
Comment Re:Neutrality (Score 1) 335
Point taken. However, if he was less self-centered and money-grubbing then yes he could. Bill Gates just took a big hit to his reputation (in my book), and if it weren't for his support of anti-malarial and other research he wouldn't have much to show for.
Comment mate=kill (Score 1) 112
As in, check-mate.
High Court Rules Detention of David Miranda Was Lawful 169
Alain Williams writes with news that last year's detention of David Miranda and seizure of files destined for Glenn Greenwald has been ruled lawful. From the article: "The nine-hour detention ... of an ex-Guardian journalist's partner has been ruled lawful. ... At the High Court, Mr Miranda claimed his detention under anti-terrorism laws was unlawful and breached human rights. But judges said it was a 'proportionate measure in the circumstances' and in the interests of national security. ... In his ruling, Lord Justice Laws said: 'The claimant was not a journalist; the stolen GCHQ intelligence material he was carrying was not "journalistic material," or if it was, only in the weakest sense.'"
Naturally, an appeal is planned.
Comment Not stealing (Score 2) 573
He copied the documents but did not deprive the NSA of them. He only copied them and did not steal them. This is the same distinction that must be made when discussing copyright violations. It seems like a small point, but the thievery elicits much stronger emotional responses than copying does, and some are making deliberate efforts to paint Snowden in as bad a light as possible. Please, let's use the correct term.
Comment Freeloading (Score 1) 586
Which then leaves us with 2 options: either he gets no treatment for his leukemia, or everyone else foots the bill. At least by signing up for insurance he's got some skin in the game.
Comment Publish or perish must go (Score 3, Insightful) 106
The way it should be is that the metrics for performance are the aggregate quality and impact of the work, not the number of publications or the impact factors of the journals they go into. Why doesn't this work? Because administrators generally don't understand the science that they are "administering." A possible solution would be to make sure that the people running the show behind the scenes are knowledgeable and competent, but we all know that's never going to happen...
Ask Slashdot: Easy Wi-Fi-Enabled Tablet For My Dad? 370
An anonymous reader writes "I'm looking to pick up a tablet for my father. He is in his 70s and the internet is a bit of a mystery to him, but he asked me about a way to send/receive email and watch online videos. He is not interested in getting a smartphone or changing his cheap phone plan that doesn't include data. But he is interested in getting a tablet and using the free Wi-Fi that is available in his building. Here is my question: can you recommend a tablet equivalent to those phones with the big numbers that they sell to older people? Does there exist a tablet with an interface that would be simple and easy to use for someone who has very little experience with computer GUIs?"
Comment Design (Score 1) 509
"whereas female brains are designed..."
Hold it right there, cowboy! Brains weren't designed, they evolved.
Comment Re:The economics of academia (Score 2) 168
One solution to the issue of the faculty who have "retired in place" is to implement a system where faculty older than 65 are subject to 5-year performance reviews and effectively lose tenure, but not necessarily their jobs. This gives the benefit of academic freedom to younger faculty with no strings attached without the pointlessly harsh mandatory retirements that are common in Europe and Asia, but implements a system to get rid of unproductive old timers who are taking up jobs that newer people could have.
Should the US Copy Switzerland and Consider a 'Maximum Wage' Ratio? 1216
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "John Sutter writes at CNN that as Swiss citizens vote on November 24 to consider capping executive pay at 12 times what the lowest-paid worker at a company makes in a referendum. Some say the idea of tethering top executive pay to some sort of concrete metric might stop American execs from floating further into the stratosphere. 'Here in America, the land of unequal opportunity, the CEOs of top-500 companies make in a single day about what it takes an average "rank-and-file" worker a year to earn, according to the AFL-CIO, the federation of unions,' writes Sutter. 'Democracy starts to unravel if a few people become wildly, ethereally successful, while the rest of a country struggles.' A $1 million salary worked for American CEOs from the 1930s to 1980s, says Lynn Stout. But CEO pay, including options realized that year, jumped about 875%, to $14.1 million, from 1978 to 2012, according to the Economic Policy Institute. 'What we've got is basically an arms race,' Stout says, 'where the CEOs are competing on pay because they each want to have higher status than the others.' Peter Drucker, the father of business management, famously said the CEO-to-worker salary ratio should not exceed 20:1, which is what existed in the United States in 1965. Beyond that, managers will see an increase in 'resentment and falling morale,' said Drucker. Stout has suggested that the IRS make CEO pay a non-deductible business expense when it's higher than 100 times the minimum wage. 'Limiting CEO pay to 100 times the minimum wage would still allow top execs to be millionaires,' concludes Sutter. 'And here's the best part: If the fat cats wanted a pay increase, maybe the best way for them to get it would be to throw political weight behind a campaign to boost the minimum wage.'"
Comment Re: Control... (Score 1) 926
"In the USA our education system is so bad most can not speak the native English very well."
You probably mean "cannot," not "can not." The latter implies the ability to be unable to do something, while the former implies the inability to do something.
