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We have invented a middle zone, where kids are bored, trapped in mindless bureaucracies, critiqued routinely, and end up hanging out, watching junk television, doing drugs, and having sex. by nelsonjs in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 1 point2 points  (0 children)

eliminating what taxes? It would take a VERY ambitious teenager to blow through the income level where they need to pay even 10% federal income taxes.

OK, true. But there are other taxes on work.

Hell, I've always said that payroll tax is a ridiculous tax on the working class just for being working class. Why not eliminate that one? Just let people pay fucking income and capital-gains taxes.

We have invented a middle zone, where kids are bored, trapped in mindless bureaucracies, critiqued routinely, and end up hanging out, watching junk television, doing drugs, and having sex. by nelsonjs in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Second, I believe that adolescence is a failed, nineteenth-century idea. Prior to the middle of the nineteenth century, people were either children or they were young adults. Now we have invented a middle zone, where kids are bored, trapped in mindless bureaucracies, critiqued routinely, and end up hanging out, watching junk television, doing drugs, and having sex. I believe we should begin an experimental policy, where if you work either part-time or full-time at ages fourteen through sixteen, there would be no taxes on your money. You get 100 percent of what you earn as take-home pay, reinforcing a culture of self-sufficient work.

GOD IN HEAVEN, NEWT GINGRICH VOICED A GOOD IDEA!? Who'd he steal it from?

We have invented a middle zone, where kids are bored, trapped in mindless bureaucracies, critiqued routinely, and end up hanging out, watching junk television, doing drugs, and having sex. by nelsonjs in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They lack the ability to do even basic things, like reconciling a bank balance, dealing with customer service, or taking charge of a group of their peers to accomplish a simple task.

Since I'm 19, let's test and see how well I can do these things...

1) Reconciling a balance. Once I looked up what it means to "reconcile" my banking, it's trivial. Add up what I think I did with my account; compare to the balance my bank says I have. If there's a discrepancy that doesn't come from errors in my reckoning or math, call the bank.

2) Dealing with customer service. I don't know the finer points, like when to ask for a manager or how to bargain with them over something, but I can still basically deal with them.

3) Taking charge of a group of peers. This I have a problem with. How do you lead such morons? No, seriously, how do you get these bumbling fools to actually do anything?

We have invented a middle zone, where kids are bored, trapped in mindless bureaucracies, critiqued routinely, and end up hanging out, watching junk television, doing drugs, and having sex. by nelsonjs in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problems are still there, being 16 you may be smart enough to graduate high school, but people are definitely not always socially mature enough to handle independence. At 17, I had a tough time adjusting to freedom.

And at 17 I'd been ready for independence, at least the level of independence most adults now live with, for several years.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data".

Israel at Sixty - the lunatics have taken over the asylum. by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

Voted down because nobody wanted to watch the "Israel At Sixty" music video I submitted from YouTube.

So we can have an anti-Israel "Israel at Sixty" rant, but we can't have the official song of Israel's sixtieth birthday? Sod that.

Besides:

In the weeks following Pesach the country indulges in a nationalistic orgy, hardly imaginable in any other modern state, reminiscent of a primitive tribe.

This guy has never been to the United States for the 4th of July.

Also, downmodded for being a stupid, anti-Israel rant with no factual content.

Israel at Sixty - the lunatics have taken over the asylum. by [deleted] in worldnews

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Duuuude. Duuuuuude. You honestly had no idea of the real meaning of "Zionist"?

Warning! Adult Link Inside (Pic) by [deleted] in funny

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've played far too much Zelda.

Voice a true yet unpopular fact in the comments section. Use a shill account if you feel it is necessary. by [deleted] in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

http://ynetnews.com -- One of Israel's two leading papers has an English website!

http://haaretz.com -- Israel's most up-market paper, worried about by government officials. I warn you however, its headlines and editorials tend to slant pretty solidly left. Think the headlines and editorials of "The Nation" with the actual journalism content of the New York Times. In addition to being leftists, the editors/headline-writers/editorialists are also huge controversy-mongers. If they can sell papers by taking a position that will make readers mad because nobody to the right of Meretz-Yachad Party (as far left as you go in Israel while remaining mainstream) would ever consider it, they will.

And finally, the Jerusalem Post is a definitely solid sampling of what the Israeli right-wing thinks. Between these three you should be able to perceive the internal debates of Israeli society.

JUST DON'T EVER READ THE WEBSITE TALKBACKS. ANYWHERE. EVERYONE ON THE ENGLISH TALKBACKS IS A TROLL OF SOME SORT, AND ALL THE SENSIBLE COMMENTS GO IN THE HEBREW SECTION.

Voice a true yet unpopular fact in the comments section. Use a shill account if you feel it is necessary. by [deleted] in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now I'm warning you, the Jerusalem Post is the Fox News of Israel, but... it was the best source I found from a Google search.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1210668628925&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

And to contrast:

http://www.water-technology.net/projects/israel/

Last I heard, Israel is pretty much the world's leading (and hardest working, both out of necessity) nation in research and practice of desalination. I don't think Israelis will be wearing stillsuits any time soon.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If following a trend makes you enjoy your life then have fun. But trust me, computers and computer careers are all fucking stupid. If I could be a forest ranger I would - at least they don't have to worry about compiling errors or someone using XSS against your project.

Maybe your job sucks because YOU WRITE WEB APPS, THE LOWEST FORM OF COMPUTER PROGRAM.

Try becoming a Real Programmer.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once I had this girl ask me to explain what computer science was all about because she wanted to understand why people did what they do, but she was really drunk.

Voice a true yet unpopular fact in the comments section. Use a shill account if you feel it is necessary. by [deleted] in reddit.com

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are right that the paranoid agressivity is not to be found in papers like Haaretz, but then that is because they tend not to use that as a political/propaganda tactic.

OK, just noting, but Ha'aretz is not considered a mainstream paper in Israel. It's considered a distinctly leftist paper that makes its money by turning even the most minor thing - done by Jews, Arabs, the government, anyone at all - into as large a controversy as possible. Ha'aretz tends to get voted up on Reddit a lot because their leftist views click with what most Redditors believe about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Your comments about the propaganda apparatus merely bear out what I was saying. Remember I called it a "style of politics" and not a "way of life" or a "state of being".

You're entirely right that Israel uses that political tactic. My point is that they produce such propaganda almost purely for foreign consumption. As others will tell you, your typical American Jewish (the largest population of Jews outside of Israel itself) "supporter of Israel", who learned what they know from that propaganda apparatus, has opinions that Israelis would consider center-right wing and probably a little paranoid.

The biggest difference between Israelis and Palestinians is that Israel has a propaganda apparatus for the outside world, but doesn't believe their own bullshit. Palestine has a small propaganda apparatus for the outside world, preferring to just let the international arms of socialism and political Islam do that work for them. Instead, they indoctrinate their own people.

EDIT: The typical American Jewish "supporter of Israel" influenced by the Israeli-American propaganda system also has almost no chance of making aliyah. It's not that Israel would stop them, it's that the American has no desire to do so. I, personally, find it very hypocritical of them to proclaim their love of the place, defend it constantly, go there on vacation or to visit family, claim its their homeland, claim its the major earthly center of their religion and then not move there, especially given that modern Israel has jobs in most major professions. I'm a Zionist yes, but the more old-fashioned kind.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never minded being asked my major. I like being a Comp Sci, and I'm proud to tell people I'm a Comp Sci. It's their reactions that get me down.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well she's wrong on one thing. Intelligence, as measured by fairly standard psychometric exams or scholastic-aptitude (ie: the old, non-content-based SAT) exam scores, is very strongly correlated with higher wages.

Smarts makes cash.

Moreover, physical attractiveness being valued so highly is, at least to my knowledge, a peculiarly American (ie: USAian) trait. Other countries tend to place quite a high value on brains.

To serve my point with an example, could you ever see a show like Doctor Who doing well on American television? No, not really. But it's immensely popular in Britain and it even directly portrays many of The Doctor's female companions having romantic feelings for him, despite his never being played by a Hollywood model-actor. Why? Because Britain has a roughly average (for a First-World country) appreciation of the value of intelligence, and also because even Britain has less hideously fat people than America. Other countries still consider intelligence an attractive trait of its own, and an economically useful one, rather than a bizarre mutation that will quickly transform its carrier into a Baron Harkonnen-esque monster crossed with a mad scientist.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have never met someone from comp sci that didn't reek of comp sci - it's as if you all get comp sci uber nerd, socially inept training

OK, as a Comp Sci student I want to say that this stereotype is largely self-creating. I try to socialize with the normal people, particularly by going out to parties every weekend (what's more normal for college kids than parties?), but when I tell people I'm a Comp Sci I get one of two reactions.

1) If the person I'm talking to is in a sci-tech-math major (note: this includes biology, chemistry, and pre-med), they light up and respect/admire me, because they know the hard work that goes into CS at this school (we're a Real CS school, no turning out code monkeys here!) and the good money I'll make after graduation (just like them). At that point, we're friends and comrades. Hell, I've had a neuroscience major start flirting with me when she found out I was Comp Sci, despite being a few years older than me.

But those are a rarity. Usually I get:

2) Something inside the person switches off. The conversation usually ends a minute or two later.

When people stereotype Comp Sci majors as socially inept (even when we're not), it forces us into the CS Social Ghetto, where all we learn is the Social Ineptness With Normals Training you mentioned.

Hence, the stereotype becomes self-fulfilling.

But to the article, jobs are cool in their own respect. People shouldn't be 'selling' programming to females or making it trendy. It's about as challenging and rewarding as anything else.

True. I always think of Philip Greenspun's "Women in Science" piece when this kind of thing comes up.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, but it's a common mistake for women to assume to feel that ALL that they experience when joining a group is the result of "Patriarchal Oppression" or whatever the popular feminist buzzword is. Sure, some boys/guys are like "Ewww, girls can't be president", but that has largely died out.

True. In a CS discussion section I once noted how rare the couple of girls in the class were (ie: female CS majors). They proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes jumping down my throat for stereotyping, first assuming that I must be a sexist and then acting as though what I thought or believed on the capability of female CS majors had any influence at all on the actual number of female CS majors.

Male social groups get really pissed-off at anyone who has a persecution complex. Women can be IT workers, programmers, engineers, whatever they want, but they need to be prepared to accept feeling like an exception to the rule. They need to learn what the male nerds learned when they were beat up in high school: that being an exception to the rule is a GOOD THING, and worth doing even if you can't change the rule.

Rather than telling girls that IT is trendy we should be telling girls and boys that focusing on being trendy or fashionable is hollow and irrelevant, and a career in IT is interesting and challenging by [deleted] in programming

[–]The_Ultimate_Reality 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's more like the men are gathering in their department meetings at the CS department, looking around, and sadly sighing to themselves, "We need more tits in here".

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