One year is as arbitrary as three. And you admit that spending some time with the child when they are young is a good thing so what really is your problem with maternity leave? Just because it isn't the amount you are accustomed to doesn't mean it is wrong.

I think spending time with the child at home over the first years is GREAT and I think the lack of this in todays society has lessened the quality of kids today over yesteryear (with respect to manners and the parental participation in the educational process, etc).

However, I don't believe it should be up to other to PAY for this. If you're gonna have kids, well, then PLAN and be fiscally ready before you pull the old rubber off or quit taking the pill. Be ready to sacrifice, and not live on the ideal standard with nice shiny cars and electronic toys.

It is your kid, plan before you fuck and have one.

Is there something wrong with wanting a rewarding career that you're passionate about?

Nope...but the reality is, most people do NOT have the luxury of having the time and resources to find the perfect job they love in order to work and make a living.

I guess it does help to attain that if you have a man supporting you till you find the one job you love, but that's mostly a luxury for women....but even that has its limitations with 3 mouths to feed and one new one to save for to educate later in life.

Those of us having children are the only ones helping you have all the social welfare programs (pensions and Social Security, etc.)

Social Security...are you serious?

I have paid into that damned system all my life, and would have loved early on to have been able to take that money and invest it myself, rather than the Feds. But here we are now, and by the time I get to retirement age, it likely won't be around, or it will be so severely crippled with new regulations and moving the retirement age, I'll likely never see a meaningful fraction of what I put into it.

And by listening to the millineals (sp?) today they don't seem to want to respect the system put in place, and don't feel they owe anything to the previous generation, and hell...whine that life is tough (entitlement mentality), and they aren't coming out of school making $50K a year, etc. So, no, they don't want to pay into the system, and with the debt the Feds have rolled up these past two presidents....the SS system will go tits up long before I'll get anything out of it.

I"m scrambling now to sock back every cent I possibly can to take care of my own self in my older years. I won't have a wealthy retirement of traveling and golf, but I'm making damned sure I'll have a roof over my head I can call my own, and no debt. The trick is in timing having a good, reliable car that is paid off that will likely last me through the retirement years.

But no..I have no faith in your progeny to uphold the social safety nets or obligations to the elders of society at all.

What is a pension by the way? I thought that term disappeared in the 50's.

First of all....3 YEARS of maternity leave?!?!? What...was the kid a difficult birth, or have problems? Seriously, maternity leave is like a year, more than that is taking time to spend with a kid as a stay at home mother (which is a good thing generally), but wow...that term really is more than should be applied here.

That being said...who is pushing for her to get back in the workforce...her or you?

Once you answer that question...well, it should be up to her where she wants to work and doing what. IT may be a good way to go, but only if that's what she wants to do. There are other interests, and certainly these days...other forms of employment that are more lucrative than just being a code monkey again.

Newegg only has OEM copies.

And your problem with this is what exactly.....?

What is this?

"One Court to Rule them ALL?"

And here we were thinking the Supreme Court was maybe throwing a bit too much weight around making laws up.

I guess SCOTUS is just not secret enough, and FISA is.....

The local big box store has a receptacle for toner cartridges. Hit Best Buy, chuck them in there, call it done, the end.

I had a lot of toner cartridges as well, but no use in keeping them. They are not going to appreciate in value, and as time goes on, that toner cartridge format will be used by fewer printers, so might as well dispose of them properly (and properly isn't the trash can.)

I'd likely waste more $$ on gas packing up and driving to a Best Buy to drop off a single cartridge, than would be saved by recycling.

And as other posters say..what guarantee is it that BB is recycling them in some fashion?

Some things are trash, and crap like this isn't worth my time to drive all over town trying to find a specialized bin to toss it in. I'm not going to keep 3-4 different trash cans taking up limited room in my kitchen to sort shit out, why would I drive all over town to throw out one toner cartridge.

My taxes/fees pay for garbagemen to pick crap up and haul it off. Why not use them for what they are there for?

Ugh..it is trash.

Throw it away, let the garbagemen earn their pay and haul it away for you.

The vast majority of slashdot users are not americans, the editors know and don't care.

Where did you get that?

Slashdot has always been a US centric site.

If you aren't from here, haven't grown up here, live here, then you are talking out of your ass.

The oppression and racism thing ended down here back in the 60's. You just don't see that here anymore and no..the Stars and Bars for my lifetime has not been use or seen as something for oppression. It was a backdrop for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, nothing more than that level of southern pride thing.

You speak as an outsider that knows nothing of life down here in the SE USA.

Well at least we can now distinguish protest from celebration, because it seems that in France, setting your neighbors car into a blazing inferno is a sign of celebration.

Same thing happens in the US when a more urban city's sports teams win a championship it seems....

This reminds me of the old joke....

Guy One: "I've got this date with a girl, but I can't remember if she said she had TB or VD...."

Guy Two: "Simple...if she coughs.....Fuck Her!!"

:)

The Confederacy flag always was a horrible symbol of oppression. People just got a little reminder of just what it actually stands for. I guess some of them don't like the real face of the Confederacy [cnn.com] so much.

As someone that has grown up in the south and is more than a few years old...no, that is not the case.

This uproar and associated meanings with the Rebel Battle Flag is a recent occurrence. I grew up with it and it was never that way....it was a backdrop for a Lynyrd Skynryd concert, or the top of the General Lee. Harmless symbols of southern pride.

All this because one jackass that killed a bunch of innocent people had a picture of him holding a small version of it. Sad...but these days, it takes so very little to have the social media addicts jump on the bandwagon of the month....

It has always been a horrible symbol of racism, oppression and hate. What surprises me is there are still people pretending it not.

I don't know where you are from, but it has never been that in my life, nor the people I've known and grown up with all my life.

It has never been thought of or used in a racist or threatening manner growing up in the south in my experience.

It was just a common symbol of living in the south, southern pride...a backdrop at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert...the top of the General Lee.

None of those things are racist or hateful....

I think this uproar is just caused mostly by one sad picture of that jackass that killed those innocent church goers and had one picture I"ve seen of him holding a small Rebel Battle Flag....but now it is being fanned by the 24/7 news channels (coincidentally all based in the northeast) that have to have something new to churn up the viewers, and it is the "next" bandwagon for the social medial addicted millenials to jump on board with as the next cause for some form of 'justice".

What's next? Do we mow down all symbols of the civil war? Anything confederate history related? Anything slave related?

Do we mow down the French Quarter in New Orleans? I mean, a LOT of slaves were bought, sold and owned there. What about the Thomas Jefferson? He was quite the slave owner...should we burn down Monticello? Raze the Jefferson memorial in DC? Change the money?

Where does it stop?

This rebel flag being a symbol of oppression, racism or hate is a VERY RECENT thing....if you think otherwise, you are not a very old person and have not grown up with the experience of it and knowing it of the past 50+ years.

...the fact of the matter is that the Confederate Flag now represents racism to the vast majority of people.

Majority?

I hardly think so...just an overly vocal minority of folks jumping on a bandwagon.

Until a few days ago, when that jackass gunned down those innocent people in that church and later was pictured in one picture holding a small rebel flag, I would posit that the Rebel Battle Flag, the Stars and Bars meant very little to most people if at all.

But thanks to 24/7 news that just HAS to have something to churn the viewers (coincidentally enough all based in the northeast of the US), and them rallying all the social media addicted millennials that are just aching for the next cause of the day to jump on board with (only to be forgotten till the next fury to be raised over some sort of "justice")....the poor flag is being run roughshod over.

I've grown up all my life with the Rebel Battle Flag in my life and experience. It wasn't that big of a deal actually, but just something so everyday, that you saw it and didn't think twice about any hidden meaning. It was southern pride, or just a symbol of the south, a backdrop at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert, or the top of the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazard (granted a silly show, but just shows how innocuous the flag symbol is). No one I'd ever known had any objections to it, nor had thought of it our used it in any manner that was threatening or hostile to blacks or other races or creeds. Hell, I'd never heard black friends object to it...just was an every day symbol of the south, nothing more nothing less.

But now...it is the topic of the day, and think what you may of it...the larger problem is that this thing is growing even further in what almost seems to be an attempt to rewrite or obliterate history.

This is spreading even in New Orleans, to threaten centuries old monuments....Lee Circle...and other long time landmarks named after confederate southern military heroes of their time, are being threatened to be torn down. None of these has ever been thought of by anyone as racist or threatening to anyone, yet in the rush to throw out the baby with the bathwater, historic landmarks are being threatened.

Ok...where do we stop?

Should we mow down the entire French Quarter? After all a LOT of slaves were bought and sold and used there.

How about all the monuments to Jefferson in D.C.? He was a notorious slave owner...should we burn down Monticello? Raze the Jefferson Memorial? Change the money?

Seriously....there is no need to try to obliterate historic monuments and figures. Everyone and every time has to be judged by the merits of that time. History if though of always in modern thoughts...well, stands to be erased.

History, helps us to understand ourselves and where we came from. Good, heroic folks had faults, but you don't destroy them because of those faults, keep them for the good things about them.

Being a southerner, proud of your heritage doesn't also make one a racist. You can be proud of one and enjoy the symbols and history as part of your culture while trying to forge new ways of thinking and tolerance.

They are not mutually exclusive concepts.

If people were to hold their breaths on this for 2 weeks.....it would all blow over and be forgotten. Hard to take a "majority of folks thinking this way" seriously, when it has just happened overnight practically, and will be forgotten about in a couple weeks....but the damage to history will last much longer.

Step back and take a breathe folks.