Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[NullForceOmega]

I could have supported Colin Powell, I'd have voted for that man in a second.  Brilliant mind, excellent on foreign affairs, a little inflexible, but overall an amazing option.  Dubya killed that hard, that administration obliterated any chance that Powell could ever run.

[Putnam]

If the Republicans put forward candidates who weren't backwards or jingoistic, they just wouldn't be the Republicans.

this ignores 200 years of history from before 1980

[MetalSlimeHunt]

If the Republicans put forward candidates who weren't backwards or jingoistic, they just wouldn't be the Republicans.

this ignores 200 years of history from before 1980

The pre-1980 Republicans do not matter when discussing the party in a contemporary context. Hell, the pre-2008 Republicans don't matter at this point. And the Republicans were not around in 1780.

[Bauglir]

Yeah, I'm with MSH on this one. I don't think it's reasonable to call the Democrats the Southern party of rich, white bigots anymore, either.

[Angle]

If the Republicans put forward candidates who weren't backwards or jingoistic, they just wouldn't be the Republicans.

this ignores 200 years of history from before 1980

The pre-1980 Republicans do not matter when discussing the party in a contemporary context. Hell, the pre-2008 Republicans don't matter at this point. And the Republicans were not around in 1780.

Those days are dead and gone.

[Duuvian]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/surviving-post-employment-economy-201311373243740811.html

Spoiler: From the article (click to show/hide)

In the United States, nine percent of computer science majors are unemployed, and 14.7 percent of those who hold degrees in information systems have no job. Graduates with degrees in STEM - science, technology, engineering and medicine - are facing record joblessness, with unemployment at more than twice pre-recession levels. The job market for law degree holders continues to erode, with only 55 percent of 2011 law graduates in full-time jobs. Even in the military, that behemoth of the national budget, positions are being eliminated or becoming contingent due to the sequester.

[Baffler]

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/11/surviving-post-employment-economy-201311373243740811.html

Spoiler: From the article (click to show/hide)

In the United States, nine percent of computer science majors are unemployed, and 14.7 percent of those who hold degrees in information systems have no job. Graduates with degrees in STEM - science, technology, engineering and medicine - are facing record joblessness, with unemployment at more than twice pre-recession levels. The job market for law degree holders continues to erode, with only 55 percent of 2011 law graduates in full-time jobs. Even in the military, that behemoth of the national budget, positions are being eliminated or becoming contingent due to the sequester.

My God, that article's depressing. I take it with a grain of salt for hyperbole, but the core idea of the piece lines up pretty well with my experience (I am applying to graduate school soon, shooting for my master's degree with an eye toward the pharmaceutical industry.) It also doesn't help that the internships STEM students are expected to take pay shit, and sometimes not at all.

[SalmonGod]

Yeah... pretty much everyone I know is doing work that they find meaningless and unfulfilling, where they're underpaid, overworked, treated like shit, and depressed.  Or they're going to school wracking up debt.  Or they're living with their parents even into their 30s, still looking for work.  I still know only one exception... well... two actually, but the other one successfully fled the country.

[Jelle]

Post employment economy, how aptly named.
Quite an eloquant article, laying down the sad facts without being overly provocative.

[SalmonGod]

One foot planted firmly inside the doorway to collapse.

Our way of life needs to change fast.

[Angle]

This is one of the things I intend Agora to address- this tendency for people to ignore large, difficult problems. The idea is that Agora will make it possible for large numbers of people to discuss complex, difficult problems like this, and should make the discussion more accessible, leading to greater involvement. That, in turn, should make it easier for us to find solutions, and because more people will be involved in the discussion, more people will work on implementing the solution.

[Lagslayer]

This is one of the things I intend Agora to address- this tendency for people to ignore large, difficult problems. The idea is that Agora will make it possible for large numbers of people to discuss complex, difficult problems like this, and should make the discussion more accessible, leading to greater involvement. That, in turn, should make it easier for us to find solutions, and because more people will be involved in the discussion, more people will work on implementing the solution.

Or they will just start arguing more.

The answer is genetically modified pollinators.

[Angle]

Well of course they will argue more, that's the idea. The important pat is that such arguments produce useful results.

[SalmonGod]

Oh hey look, the economy's recovering.  That's what this means, right?  We're all going to see the rise in prosperity really soon!

[ChairmanPoo]

What someone else (Muz? I think?) said in life advice: prove your worth, negotiate afterwards your working conditions, and if they don't play ball, hit the road. That's my view of the matter nowadays. Accepting stuff like (as a friend did) signing up for a 50% contract and end up doing more like 150% for the same pay is self-destructive. If you start bending over even dwarves will take a turn at your butt.