Forgot your password?

typodupeerror

Comment: Cue the xenophobia (Score 4, Insightful) 617

I work for a large company that hires based on talent. We can't get enough workers, H-1B or not. We don't discriminate based on age or anything else, just skill. The stories in my area are the same for all companies: we can't get enough skilled programmers.

This headline will just serve as an excuse for people to post rants about how their talent is being overlooked because of the foreigners invading our shores while ignoring the fact that many people who try to work as programmers are just terrible (see: fizzbuzz).

Comment: Re:Interface patents (Score 1) 130

by moderatorrater (#42913195) Attached to: EFF Proposes a Working Code Requirement For Software Patents
Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's obvious and should be able to be patented. You need someone who knows the field to determine whether it's obvious or not, and if you have someone who knows the field looking at the working code, they could do just as well looking at the application (once it was translated into English, anyway).

Comment: Re:Been saying that... (Score 1) 376

by moderatorrater (#42810121) Attached to: Economists Argue Patent System Should Be Abolished
The way it currently works is that generics don't need to go through the same trials because they're the exact same chemical and re-proving that it's safe and effective doesn't add anything. If it would add something, then we probably improve the required trials so that one set is good enough.

The other argument against requiring generics to go through trials is that cheap generics are an important part of healthcare. If you don't have the insurance to pay for the latest and greatest, you can use the generic instead and it will cost you $10 / month.

Comment: Re:Been saying that... (Score 2) 376

by moderatorrater (#42808951) Attached to: Economists Argue Patent System Should Be Abolished

Of course you could solve the same problem by pealing back the red tape as well

In pharma, that red tape is known as "making sure the drug doesn't outright kill you." It's not perfect and it's currently being gamed, but the red tape is absolutely necessary.

The other problem with pharma is that the red tape is only necessary for the first person to do it. Thus, if the patent system goes away but the red tape stays there, then innovation will disappear completely because everyone will jump on the new drugs with generics and no need to recoup the costs of making sure it doesn't kill people.

There are things that need fixing with pharma, but simply eliminating red tape and patents certainly won't do it.

Comment: Re:Going to get modded down as sexist for this, bu (Score 1) 690

by moderatorrater (#42480283) Attached to: Why Girls Do Better At School
From that article:

Moving to cross-country comparisons, we find that earlier results linking the gender gap in math to measures of gender equality are sensitive to the inclusion of Muslim countries, where in spite of women’s low status, there is little or no gender gap in math.

Also, looking at the graphs of gender gap vs gender equality, there's a trend towards no gender gap as equality goes up. Further, the gender gap is all over the place clustered around or just below 0.

Am I missing something here that says the gender gap isn't artificial?

... when fits of creativity run strong, more than one programmer or writer has been known to abandon the desktop for the more spacious floor. -- Fred Brooks

Working...