51–60 of 153 posts
It occurs to me that my latest project actually gets me off the hook from this guy. Problem: People in developing countries have to work for 3rd world wages, selling products and services to people who really can't afford to buy anything. Thus, they are doomed to remain poor by western standards. Solution: Jason's website that lets them teach Spanish online to rich Americans, and doesn't let them pay themselves less…
2) "This guy" is actually a lady. =)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Homelessness isn't going to be solved by some RoR hacker creating a website that matches the homeless with available space. Rather it is the challenge for social workers, mental health practitioners, etc." I think you're missing the larger point: when the best and the brightest technological minds are chasing the instant riches of social networks for dogs, they're not creating new antibiotics, energy efficient cars,…
But there are bright minds working on new antibiotics, energy efficient cars, cheaper building materials etc. Some of the best and brightest minds are also smashing atoms in particle accelerators, charting the cosmos, composing symphonies, educating new minds, and, yes, pushing the limits of computer connectedness to make many lives on this planet just that much nicer. There are different ways to contribute to the wo…
Speaking as one of those people who took a nice little detour from the world of money to live on the edge of technology, let me assure you that it wasn't a smart financial choice. Most of the people who are smashing atoms and charting the cosmos are economic martyrs. Most of the ones who aren't martyrs come from places where an advanced degree at a US school will catapult them into higher social classes. That doesn't really happen in the US anymore -- people think it's more sensible to drop out of college to make websites, and I can't really argue with them.
Irrational or not, my opinion is that the world would be 1000% better if we could somehow create an economy that rewarded young people for doing research into antibiotics half as well as it rewards them for creating social-networking widgets.
It occurs to me that my latest project actually gets me off the hook from this guy. Problem: People in developing countries have to work for 3rd world wages, selling products and services to people who really can't afford to buy anything. Thus, they are doomed to remain poor by western standards. Solution: Jason's website that lets them teach Spanish online to rich Americans, and doesn't let them pay themselves less…
It occurs to me that my latest project actually gets me off the hook from this guy. Problem: People in developing countries have to work for 3rd world wages, selling products and services to people who really can't afford to buy anything. Thus, they are doomed to remain poor by western standards. Solution: Jason's website that lets them teach Spanish online to rich Americans, and doesn't let them pay themselves less…
By setting an arbitrary floor of ten bucks you've also cut off that opportunity for many though.
A site where people who normally make less than $1/hr can sell their services online for less than $1/hr doesn't really help anybody.
On the other hand, requiring people to charge the fair market value for their service forces them to compete on quality rather than price, which has the added benefit of making the service better, as well as getting people paid a fair wage.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you're saying OP isn't allowed to point out that the emperor wears no clothes, or that roger ebert is useless.
Maybe if she was pointing out facts, but this strikes me as an opinion piece and I have a hard time reading this particular opinion unless the author is actually practicing what she preaches. FWIW I tend to agree with the opinion. I don't know who roger ebert is so I can't comment on whether he is useless, but I guess he has no relevance to me.
Here’s a problem: Many Americans can’t afford medical care. Er, not sure where the author has been since the November 2008 election, but President Barack Obama made tackling this decades long problem a signature issue of his presidency, and actually got the problem addressed comprehensively. Sure, there is still work to do, but health care which makes up 1/3 of the economy was never going to be solved by programmers…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
By setting an arbitrary floor of ten bucks you've also cut off that opportunity for many though.
Possibly, but hopefully it'll stop the thing from turning into rentacoder, where everybody competes on price to the point where it's essentially free. A site where people who normally make less than $1/hr can sell their services online for less than $1/hr doesn't really help anybody . On the other hand, requiring people to charge the fair market value for their service forces them to compete on quality rather than pr…
"Many Americans can’t afford a decent education" Baloney. I worked in the CA community college system. It's $26 per unit. TWENTY SIX dollars. Oh, and if you're poor, it's nothing. A college education is accessible to just about everyone in the US who wants it .
Agreed. And even throughout the world thanks to small startups like Khan Academy.
"Many Americans can’t afford a decent education" Baloney. I worked in the CA community college system. It's $26 per unit. TWENTY SIX dollars. Oh, and if you're poor, it's nothing. A college education is accessible to just about everyone in the US who wants it .
Jane doesn't want to go to some stooooopid lowly community college, she wants to go to USC because ahem, it's better!
"Many Americans can’t afford a decent education" Baloney. I worked in the CA community college system. It's $26 per unit. TWENTY SIX dollars. Oh, and if you're poor, it's nothing. A college education is accessible to just about everyone in the US who wants it .
The high schools generate students that aren't even capable of doing community college, or have enough sense to "want" to do community college.