I'm totally with you on this labor party thing, but the flip side of "right to work" is that just about every non-compete form I've had shoved under my nose is basically unenforceable. And, in all fairness, if the larger unions hadn't become as corrupt as the corporate machines they were supposed to be protecting their workers from in the mid 20th century, Right to Work legislation wouldn't have got very far. Here in America, we've always seemed to brand anything that sounded a little bit like socialism as the end of free society. Maybe it's just because Americans are dumber than the average citizen? I don't know. We, as a society, have always been more interested in listening to talking points than reading/thinking for ourselves. If we weren't, we probably wouldn't be a country.

But yeah, you're totally right about the mold. The first thing she should do (now) is start documenting, get an inspector in there, pictures, air samples, etc.

This other person really ought to follow my personal policy of not friending the people I work with on facebook. And I know what you're going to say: some employers require it. I wouldn't even think twice about working for one of those.

'licensing should guarantee consumers the same basic rights as when they purchase a good: the right to get a product that works with fair commercial conditions,'

I invoke the law of "you get what you pay for." I can't remember the last OSS license I read that didn't include something about use of the software absolving the developer from any monetary damages. Besides, using free software is a little like getting something from the curb. You're essentially using something that you've found, and no one is liable for any damages to the user's system except for the user, unless said user could show cause that there was malicious code buried in the program for the purpose of causing harm. If you find a working washing machine on the curb and it explodes, the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate that this was caused by an act of malice on the part of the person who left it there. If you can demonstrate that someone planted a bomb, you've got a good case. If all you can do is demonstrate that the motor was faulty, you'll need some other evidence to demonstrate that it wa purposefully rigged that way.

Of course, if you're charging money for your software, then you should be subject to the same conditions as the large players. It might not be a bad idea to look into some liability insurance if you want to sell your code.

There was only a single semester when I *needed* the computer lab, and that was the first I had moved off campus. I didn't want to shell out the cash for internet access because, lets face it, I would spend so much time in the CS lab anyway.

The CS lab was linked directly with the department file server, and I had been running linux full time since my sophomore year. As long as I had enough bandwidth to upload a source file, or download the occasional lib file the prof provided, there was no need for me to be in that lab, and on campus bandwidth was plentiful.

So why do it? I liked the company. I didn't like everyone in that department, to be sure, but most of the folks I knew were pretty good guys (and a couple girls), and it was fun swapping stories of funky things we were experiencing on our own systems, problems we were having with our current projects, or the latest interesting story on Slashdot.

I was a TA for most of my college career, but I spent so much time in the lab that the idea of logging my hours was really a joke. I think it was true for just about every one of the upperclassmen (and those who knew what they were doing) that we were always there to help out anyone who asked.

There was a lot to be gained from that experience. The CS lab was a space where we could work with others, where we could serve as mentors, and where we could get a feel for what it might possibly like to work in a room full of other people with a common interest. I shudder to think of what my CS experience would have been like without that space.