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9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

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Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#231

Post by georgieporgie »

burgerbrain wrote: post #225
scythe wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't even tell him the right word -- if you wanted to help him learn English, you might say something to the effect of: queue -- noun. A first-in, first-out data structure, such as a supermarket line, or processes to be scheduled naively. cue -- verb. To prepare for, to bring up, to introduce, typically used as a command. Also noun. an indication that it is time to do something, cf. "that's our cue!". Also used…

The thing that bugs me here is that if you honestly consider it, in some situations either word could be used for more or less the same effect. For example: "Cue the complaints" . Surely "Queue the complaints." , meaning that the complaints should start lining up, gets across the same meaning (which is of course "oh great, here come complaints" ). This doesn't always work of course ( "That's our queue" has an entirel…

Surely "Queue the complaints."

But that's simply invalid English, as 'queue' is a noun, not a verb. Enqueue is the verb form, and nobody would ever say, "enqueue the complaints." :-)

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#233

Post by roel_v »

gaius wrote: post #88
protomyth wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now ND is importing welders and other skilled tradesmen from Canada. They just cannot get enough people. This whole "push people to get a real education" is a crock. People need to get the education (be it vocational or academic) that allows them to have a career that satisfies them, and not some weird perception of the world.

It's the use of the word "real". You got to come out of the other side of whatever theoretical or practical education you choose with something that makes you an asset. Education is supposed to transform you from a consumer into a producer. That's what "real" is. Tangible. I've never been to Canada but I love Eastern Europe, there's a buzz there, an energy that drove these kids to learn English and travel to where th…

"To be a young Eastern European today is a glorious thing"

LOL, of course, that's why they flock to the West to pick asparagus &_& . Now I agree that many people from the East have better work mentality than the unemployed here in the West, but that's out of economic necessary, and not some sort of fundamental genetic trait; and it'll be gone in 15 years when the economic standards have leveled and everybody has gotten used to it.

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#234

Post by roel_v »

gregpilling wrote: post #156
Uhhrrr wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all very true, but you are leaving out the part about dealing with human feces.

I have a friend with a sewage pumping business. He pays his drivers $40,000+ per year (high school education not required) and is a millionaire himself. There is money in handling 'issues' that other people don't want to handle.

Being a business owner and having multiple people working for you != 'being a plumber'. 40k is about half of the US median programmer salary.

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#235

Post by gaius »

agilebyte wrote: post #157
gaius wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EXACTLY the same problem in the UK. Under the last government's social engineering caper, millions of teenagers who would otherwise have learned a trade (electrician, plumber, carpenter, etc) from their fathers instead were swindled into going to hastily built "new universities" to get worthless, made-up degrees in "Media Studies" (and a mountain of debt). Now they're not only unemployed but unemployable - and all ou…

Let us not forget though, that if you see a foreign worker, then you will more likely than not have come across someone that has decided to do something different than the rest of his/her peers, often times leaving friends & family behind in their home country. The goal? To make money/open up to different opportunities, perhaps with a vision to one day return. Thus you will see people more motivated, because the ones…

Dobry den :-) Praha is a perfect example of what I mean - a city with a long history full of people who are excited about the future. Compare to Paris, a city that only harks back to past glories. I have many friends in Paris and am often there, but it feels claustrophobic for that reason.

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#236

Post by agilebyte »

gaius wrote: post #235
agilebyte wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let us not forget though, that if you see a foreign worker, then you will more likely than not have come across someone that has decided to do something different than the rest of his/her peers, often times leaving friends & family behind in their home country. The goal? To make money/open up to different opportunities, perhaps with a vision to one day return. Thus you will see people more motivated, because the ones…

Dobry den :-) Praha is a perfect example of what I mean - a city with a long history full of people who are excited about the future. Compare to Paris, a city that only harks back to past glories. I have many friends in Paris and am often there, but it feels claustrophobic for that reason.

Hi :) Don't know about Prague, have not been in a long time, but you could certainly say that in countries that are still lacking a bit economically, just implementing what exists already in more advanced nations can lead to big gains.

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#238

Post by burgerbrain »

georgieporgie wrote: post #231
burgerbrain wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing that bugs me here is that if you honestly consider it, in some situations either word could be used for more or less the same effect. For example: "Cue the complaints" . Surely "Queue the complaints." , meaning that the complaints should start lining up, gets across the same meaning (which is of course "oh great, here come complaints" ). This doesn't always work of course ( "That's our queue" has an entirel…

Surely "Queue the complaints." But that's simply invalid English, as 'queue' is a noun, not a verb. Enqueue is the verb form, and nobody would ever say, "enqueue the complaints." :-)

  2queue
  verb \ˈkyü\
  queued queu·ing or queue·ing
  Definition of QUEUE
  transitive verb
  : to arrange or form in a queue (see 1queue)
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/queue

Commonly heard used in the phrase "Queue up".

Besides, verbing weirds language. ;)

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#239

Post by chaostheory »

muhfuhkuh wrote: post #54

IMO, the problem is much more than just automation and advancement in technology. It's actually far graver, and maybe inexorable at least in the short term. Hate the man or his policies (or both), but you can't deny President Obama's observation that training education is the real problem in the so-called "jobless recovery". America as it currently stands has a total, almost prideful disregard for education (public a…

> America as it currently stands has a total, almost prideful disregard for education (public and higher) and technical training.

I don't think the US disdains education. They just don't like anything related to math or engineering.

Re: 9.2% Unemployment? Blame Microsoft.

#240

Post by jshen »

jimbokun wrote: post #153
jshen wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Education is supposed to transform you from a consumer into a producer" What the ....? I'm guessing there are many reasons to get an education, but isn't the primary reason to understand the world better than before?

"I'm guessing there are many reasons to get an education, but isn't the primary reason to understand the world better than before?" Surely that's rhetorical? Do you honestly think most people pursue education primarily to understand the world better, and not to increase their earning potential?

I think the smart ones realize they increase their earning potential by understanding the world better, but it also does much more than increase your earning potential.

The idea that an education turns one into a producer from a consumer sounds absurd. People without educations produce!

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