On Wednesday, July 23, 2003 at 01:26AM -0400, Paul M Foster wrote:
> I'm seeing entirely too much of this "offshore job movement" posting on
> the main list, and I suppose I just needed someone to flame me. ;-}
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM slug
WHERE (Body LIKE "%off%shore%" OR Body LIKE "%out%source%");
+----------+
| COUNT(*) |
+----------+
| 147 |
+----------+
My slug table has not been updated in a while,
and is missing 48 of the newest messages, but still,
that is a fairly accurate number.
Also, there could very well be some messages I missed,
of course, messages that do not contain either out*source
or off*shore...
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM slug
WHERE ( Body LIKE "%off%shore%" OR Body LIKE "%out%source%"
AND NAME = "Paul M Foster"
);
+----------+
| COUNT(*) |
+----------+
| 10 |
+----------+
Since I began my monitoring (That sounds rather bad... hehe)
you have posted 80 messages. So, 12.5% of your messages have to do
with that. However, if we exclude repeating things:
SELECT COUNT(*) FROM slug
WHERE ((NAME = "Paul M Foster")
AND Subject NOT LIKE "%[SLUG] Suncoast LUG Meetings%"
AND Subject NOT LIKE "%[SLUG] Mailing List Policies%"
);
+----------+
| COUNT(*) |
+----------+
| 62 |
+----------+
So, 16.129% percent of your messages are about this topic,
while only 7.73% of the messages to the main SLUG list are
about this topic. Also, the messages are fairly evenly distributed over
the last few months, so there seems to be a slight swell lately. Maybe
I will make a graph of this. :)
Usages of some other words:
Penguin: used 10 times.
Tux: used 11 times.
microsoft: used 117 times.
pants: used 5 times.
the: used 1796 times.
Powerpuff: used 3 times.
alien(s): used 17 times.
The term "space alien" has never been used.
I, em, I do not actually have a point... I was not
even trying to make a point, either.
Now, I shall talk with a purpose and a point, of sorts.
Gentlemen don't write flames, they write and have
constructive arguments.
> I'm tired of hearing the whining about this phenomenon.
Me too, I'm a college student, and I am going to be majoring
in CS, Mathematics, and some EE like stuff.
I confess, it is indeed very depressing to hear about all
this stuff, even though my eventual goal is to
profess as a professor, as I think professorship a rather
noble profession. It seems rather appropriate,
for such discussions to be on the SLUG-POL list.
> First, profit is what makes the business world go around.
First, the gravity well (of the Sun) is what makes the real world go around.
The Sun's shine makes the world warm. This creates the biosphere,
which I'll call Life. We're part of Life, because we're alive.
Simple, no? We create societies which are made
of meta-groups (City-States, Nations), groups (families, clans),
because it is in our nature to do to so.
Society is what allows the business world to go around.
A society need not profit, or businesses, it is just that
the mistress Time has shown that businesses are a pretty good way to get things
done in a society. A business needs society, a society doesn't require
businesses, but it's nice to have 'em. Profit is possible
without businesses, so long as you have a society.
Diagram:
* ->Sun->Life->People->Groups->MetaGroups->Society->Business World
'*' is other non-important stuff, like the physical laws of the universe.
That is, of course, simplified...
> Without it, there would be no business.
Without society, there would be no businesses.
> Employees go along with this as long as they
> get what they want out of the corporation (money, benefits, niceness,
> whatever). But once the tide appears to turn against them, the true
> nature of employees is revealed: profit is okay until it interferes with
> [snip: something about socking your manager in the face]
Employees are just people, you know. They are not some
kind of magical faery people...
Just people, people much like you or I.
It is of my opinion that most people are happy with
as much money as they need and as much respect as they deserve.
Now, you speak of the true nature of the employee,
and what I will speak of, is of the true nature of man
(I mean both genders by that.).
Is it the true nature of man to seek only profit?
That's the true nature of man? Selfishness and greed?
Nay! Nay I say! I say instead that, on the whole, men
are noble, fair and just! I say that while there are those
with black hearts and foul minds, there are also those
that are unselfish, those with an honor, of sorts.
That's a very, very sad world view, thinking the worst
of people...
I think, the Person-who-is-an-employee would say this:
"Profit is fine and dandy as long as it feeds me and my children"
Even a gentleman who counts to ten before getting
angry, will fight like a tiger if he feels threatened.
Also, about belting the manager in the gob,
that would only be interesting if everyone did it.
"International Deck-the-Managers Day!"...
Should be a rotating holiday, unpredictable when it will happen.
> Second, businesses don't _owe_ employees.
Second, business do owe society as a whole.
As does everyone who exists in it.
> Should businesses treat their employees with dignity, courtesy and respect?
Should people treat other people with dignity, courtesy, and respect?
> Sure. And smart corporations do. Dumb ones have a higher turnover.
Yes, corporations that wish to survive do.
> But they don't _owe_ that dignity, courtesy and respect.
> [snip: something about gold watches and pensions]
They do so owe me, if I have earned it by showing them much the same.
Respect is given to those that deserve it, courtesy is shown
unless someone proves they don not deserve it, dignity
is something that one has, but can lose, much like honor.
Loyal employees deserve respect,
new, and loyal employees should be shown courtesy,
and all should be treated with dignity. It isn't that bloody
hard to do so.
A gold watch, could be seen as a sign of respect.
A pension, is a sign of gratitude.
It's not exactly in style, these days, to be either grateful
or respectful, I guess.
> If you believe they do owe you this stuff, you probably also believe that poor people are
> _owed_ welfare from the government.
Depends on the person. Someone who lost his legs fighting in the armed
services for government, the government owes them, big time.
(I also think the welfare should mainly be in the form of food and education,
and mostly for the poor that are children).
> Companies don't make happy employees, they make widgets. Happy employees are okay as long as it
> doesn't interfere with making profitable widgets.
Companies do not make widgets. Employees make widgets.
Happy employees make better widgets than the unhappy ones.
So, a company that actually wants to survive and
a make a profit, should encourage happy employees.
Also, you could say that a company is a group of people that make widgets,
yes?
There is a lot of debts owed everywhere, some of which cannot ever be paid.
We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, of course,
and we depend on society, too.
No one lives in a vacuum --- in fact, if we did, everyone would
understand this better.
Business is very important, but it is not the most important thing.
The most important thing is we keep making stuff, and exploring.
People get caught up in business, and economics, and start to think
like it means everything, and that is very short sighted.
To sum up that which I have said:
The sun makes the world, and any sub-worlds (such as the
business world) go around. This allows for various kinds of
lifeforms, like us. We form societies, and so on and so forth.
You are not going to make a profit without the sun, at least not yet,
and not for a long while.
Businesses depend on us, us being society.
Business *are* just groups of people, pure and simple. Employees
are just people. Employers are people. Soylent Green is people.
People are generally happy with as much money as they need
and as much respect as they deserve. They also do not like to feel
cheated. Some people are greedy.
When people are really really greedy, you go get a shillelagh
and a hod,
you then proceed to beat the tar out of them with the shillelagh.
When they try to run away, you put rocks or hot coals in
the hod, and then swing the hod in such a way as to project
the rocks or coals at them. You do not want to kill them,
or even injure them a lot, you just want to make them afraid of
being too greedy. (If you do not know what a shillelagh or a hod
is, use http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict ).
I do not have a problem, not a problem at all with profit.
Profiting from making things is good thing, it causes
people to make more things. It is just that I think there,
there is more to life then profiting. Dignity, courtesy,
respect, honor, friendship, 'family', compassionate and passionate
feelings, are the things that make being alive interesting and,
enjoyable.
P.S.:
I would like for anyone that reads this posting to note,
that while my words are most serious, I wrote them while
laughing. There is not spite or malice in any of them,
and I dread them being taken that way.
I thank you to keep that in mind. :)
Cheers,
Dylan William Hardison.
-- Keep grandma off the streets -- legalize bingo. - GPG Fingerprint=D67D 2B75 53C6 9769 30E4 D390 239F C833 F32C F6F6 GPG KeyID=F32CF6F6
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