Stop the world, I wanna get off! by Anonymouse

TALK STORY

Stop the world, I wanna get off!

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POSTED BY: ANONYMOUSE
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 03:55
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/jReJeL
VIEWED: 7031
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Monday, May 9, 2011 4:57 AM

This fairground rollercoaster ride we call "Life in the UK, 2011" has now gotten too wild and crazy. I want off.

To explain: today I went for induction at Red Rose Training, with the intention of doing forklift truck training so I'd have more chance of getting a warehouse job - the number of job vacancies I have to pass up because I don't have an FLT licence is considerable, and increasing, and I'm sick of the damn dole. I want to *work* for my living!

To secure funding, you have to do numeracy and literacy tests. Not a problem, I thought.
And indeed it wasn't. The problem is - I *cannot* believe I'm typing this - I did *too* well. There is, apparently, no "scope for training", given my results. In other words, I'm too bloody smart. I'm being penalised for doing my best. Only in the UK could this happen. Try as I might I can't make sense of it.

I have two alternatives at the moment:

1) Pay for the damn training myself. At £440 plus VAT you can imagine my enthusiasm for that one.

2) Go against the convictions of a lifetime and take the assessment again...but deliberately get some answers wrong along the way.

I can't do it. I can't. The very thought makes me want to be sick, honestly. 'To thine own self be true' is a truism I do my best to live by. I will *not* surrender or compromise a fundamental part of myself just to get a damn job. To be honest, I feel rather like Mal did at Serenity Valley - the notion that you can be too smart fills me with despair.

So here I am, typing this and wondering what the hell I'm going to do now. I was amused for all of three seconds or so on seeing some twonk plug his phone into a PC at the library via a USB cable, presumably to charge it up. All very well, except the computer in question isn't actually working at the moment.

Maybe *he* should take the damn assessment - doubtless he'd do better, as it were.

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Monday, May 9, 2011 5:43 AM

WINDIE

I know how you feel, the UK is definately getting weirder by the day.

There's nothing like showing willing, only to be smacked down because you want to better yourself.

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Monday, May 9, 2011 5:48 AM

SAFEAT2ND

Too smart?? They shouldn't even be allowed to say that.
Did you pass the test? Yes, that's all they should need.
Nobody EVER said big business was smart. Maybe they should take the test. I suspect there would be a lot more job openings then.

Check out my blog for info and updates on my novels
http://drlong67.wordpress.com

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Monday, May 9, 2011 5:57 AM

HARDWARE

The way things have gone you'd have been better off if you'd given the country over to the Germans during WW2.

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

...and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luke 22:36

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Monday, May 9, 2011 7:16 AM

BLUEEYEDBRIGADIER

Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymouse:
This fairground rollercoaster ride we call "Life in the UK, 2011" has now gotten too wild and crazy. I want off.

To explain: today I went for induction at Red Rose Training, with the intention of doing forklift truck training so I'd have more chance of getting a warehouse job - the number of job vacancies I have to pass up because I don't have an FLT licence is considerable, and increasing, and I'm sick of the damn dole. I want to *work* for my living!

To secure funding, you have to do numeracy and literacy tests. Not a problem, I thought.
And indeed it wasn't. The problem is - I *cannot* believe I'm typing this - I did *too* well. There is, apparently, no "scope for training", given my results. In other words, I'm too bloody smart. I'm being penalised for doing my best. Only in the UK could this happen. Try as I might I can't make sense of it.

I have two alternatives at the moment:

1) Pay for the damn training myself. At £440 plus VAT you can imagine my enthusiasm for that one.

2) Go against the convictions of a lifetime and take the assessment again...but deliberately get some answers wrong along the way.

I can't do it. I can't. The very thought makes me want to be sick, honestly. 'To thine own self be true' is a truism I do my best to live by. I will *not* surrender or compromise a fundamental part of myself just to get a damn job. To be honest, I feel rather like Mal did at Serenity Valley - the notion that you can be too smart fills me with despair.

So here I am, typing this and wondering what the hell I'm going to do now. I was amused for all of three seconds or so on seeing some twonk plug his phone into a PC at the library via a USB cable, presumably to charge it up. All very well, except the computer in question isn't actually working at the moment.

Maybe *he* should take the damn assessment - doubtless he'd do better, as it were.

I know how you feel all too well, Anonymouse, in that I was told several years ago that my parents made too much money for me to get financial assistance to attend university, even though they were finanically barely above water, so to speak. Apparently the government of Ontario thinks morgages and utilities aren't something to factor in when considering one's worthiness in funding an education.

Really though...I can sadly imagine the UK government's justification for said decision: you have too many brains for mere grunt work and you'd be unhappy in a job that could have been given to someone with a better suited mental capacity. However, Deity of Choice help you if the government will then help with funding any training for a job field that suits your intellect better

"The revenge of the beaten comes in refusing to fall." -- Mal, in "The Losing Side - Chapter 45" by jetflair

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Monday, May 9, 2011 7:18 AM

BYTEMITE

Uhhh, let's not go that far. Saxons might've been of Germanic descent, and the Celts have some arguable origins, The house of Windsor may even have been originally German, but I'm sure the Nazis would come up with something to justify stomping down on a number of inhabitants on the islands. They needed slave labour for the war machine.

Thread topic: Oh look, they're already decanting the caste system and implementing the Hatcheries and Conditioning Centers.

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Monday, May 9, 2011 10:03 AM

HARDWARE

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Uhhh, let's not go that far. Saxons might've been of Germanic descent, and the Celts have some arguable origins, The house of Windsor may even have been originally German, but I'm sure the Nazis would come up with something to justify stomping down on a number of inhabitants on the islands. They needed slave labour for the war machine.

Thread topic: Oh look, they're already decanting the caste system and implementing the Hatcheries and Conditioning Centers.

Yeah, but just with the underclasses.

Seriously Anonymouse, you have 3 choices. Game the system, play it straight or get out. If you really want to run a fork truck, just take the test again and dumb it down. But if you scored as high as you did I doubt you'll be happy doing a job where you have to put your brain in neutral. Will the government spring to train you for a job that uses your brain? Something like auto repair, computer maintenance, or HVAC?

The more I get to know people the more I like my dogs.

...and he that has no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. Luke 22:36

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Monday, May 9, 2011 1:29 PM

THESOMNAMBULIST

Hey Anonymouse.
Very sorry to hear that. Sounds like the good old fashioned British bureaucracy I remember. I think it's indicative of the stupid protecting their own inadequacies - (perhaps that's smart though... ? ) Anyway I am very sorry to hear that. It's frustrating when you genuinely want to work!
I'm in a similar thing myself at the moment. I've moved to Australia to be with my girlfriend and I have acquired a 12 month visa. However the condition of the visa is that I'm not allowed to work here!? Meantime the rhetoric of the country - as I percieved it through chatting to Australians and picking up the general vibe of the place - is that they are frustrated by the demands put upon them by the ever ingreasing immigration numbers! So wouldn't it be beneficial to allow visitors to work and contribute to the sytem while they are here?
Apparently not.

May I suggest you go back to the people who told you you are too smart and demand their jobs from them; citing a higher level of clarity that they are unable to percieve.

Tough break though. What are you going to do next?

Cartoons - http://cirqusartsandmusic.blogspot.com

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Monday, May 9, 2011 2:09 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Hey Mouse,

I'm sure this is super frustrating for you, its a pile of crap and totally stupid. I know you don't want to take the test again and intentionally get answers wrong, if it were me and I really wanted that job I'd do it, but some people have convictions about that sort of thing and it sounds like you do. Have you told them that you don't understand why they have such a peculiar rule? I know if it were me I'd have a hard time keeping it together in front of them and not telling them what idiotic policies they have, but maybe you are more level headed than I and you could plead your case to them, why you should be allowed to do it. I suspect that there are circumstances specific to your situation which factor into where you're coming from which I won't demand to know. I just know that this situation sucks brick and that they are mean folk with stupid rules.

So I guess you could:
A) Take the test against your personal convictions to get what you seek.
b) try telling them, calmly and rationally, what you think of their crapola rules (but don't say it like that)
c) pick another job that you could persue and would like to persue.
d) Move to another part of Europe, does England have the same rules as the EU, where you can move where ever you want within the continent? Maybe you'd fair better in Eire (Ireland)? Do other parts of the UK have the same rules about smarts, like another county, Scotland, Wales, another city in England, etc.?) I know moving may not be an option for many reasons, so this is just me brainstorming and giving you ideas, I don't know which ideas are valid for your situation and which aren't.

Maybe I can come up with something else given more time?

Hardware: Your statement scares me, pure and simple. I can't imagine a society much worse and frightening than a Nazi-run society.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, May 9, 2011 2:41 PM

DREAMTROVE

First, my apologies to fellow browncoats on FFF for posting this in Talk Story, but I can't move the thread (does anyone know how to this? Haken?)

Mouse, I don't know you, so nothing personal, seriously, I mean it. Also, nice username. I like it.

This thread belongs in RWED. That's for discussion of real world events such as economics and politics. This is talk story.

Now for my snarky sarcastic rant,

I'm sorry. Sick of the dole? Don't want to pay for the training? Memo for America here: education is expensive, and we have no dole.

I've been to your fair country many times, and I think you guys have it pretty easy. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to rework my business so that I don't end up owing in excess of 100% tax in a sub-poverty level income, but I'm doing it because there's always some guy in India who wants my job, whatever it is, and generally, he deserves it, and I support his right to it.

If this is the great recession of great Britain, I'm not impressed. I don't want to be harsh, but from here it looks like your current position is still over-pampered. If you compare your lot to ours in the US, and then compare to 9/10ths of the world, you'll see what I mean.

Here are some other things to think about:
Do you have a public health?
Public transportation?
Food on the table?

Yes? Things look pretty good.

How about these:
Plague ridden gang attacks?
Authoritarian Police state?
Pointless war without end?

No? That's amazing. Things are fucking amazing.

Quote:
Anonymouse posted:

To be honest, I feel rather like Mal did at Serenity Valley

Now *THIS* is snarkworthy.

Oh Really? Someone is shooting at you?

I assume financial assistance for tuition was for immigrants who aren't on the dole. I suspect you can't take the test again, they have your results on computer already. You're a person with an income, you have the dole. This is less than $1000 US. That's pretty cheap. How much is your monthly dole check?

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, May 9, 2011 3:18 PM

WISHIMAY

I understand your problem...and so does the idiot next to you who had no moral compunctions and already has the job...

Life isn't fair...and the days that it seems to make sense are primarily because you delude yourself into believing it does...

Hope you find a job you like, and this day becomes BUT A MOMENT IN TIME!

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Monday, May 9, 2011 3:45 PM

ISROUSRO

Perhaps it is time to contact your MP?

passoniatetly indifferent

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Monday, May 9, 2011 7:05 PM

BYTEMITE

>_>

Britain doesn't have a police state?

<_<

You can't even legally buy guns from what I hear. Public health and their welfare maybe isn't so bad, but it does seem to also require big brother looking over the shoulder. And if you're going to the free medical clinics, they don't give a damn about privacy, they'll release your name in research and turn you over to government scrutiny in a heartbeat. The schools also are just TERRIBLE, I mean you think that American schools have funding issues and too much security and abusive teachers, I hear horror stories about the British boarding schools quite a bit, they're like if Frem's hellcamps were standardized.

The experiences people I know have had actually make England sound like a scary place to live. No eternal wars or endless debt yet, but bad in other ways.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011 5:06 AM

ANONYMOUSE

Hmm. I was just sounding off; I didn't expect vitriol.

First, sorry for putting my original post in the wrong area. :)

Second, I didn't take it personally. However:

The dole isn't "income". £65 a week can hardly be called an income.

We DO have a police state, but it's shadowy and subtle; we don't have a Constitution which protects - or should protect - citizens from state abuse; the last three UK governments have been steadily nibbling away at civil rights and liberties. Ironically, the current erosion was started by the "War on Terror" - RIPA is sort of an equivalent of the Patriot Act and has been abused in a variety of ways. The Crminal Justice & Immigration Act is a further erosion, and slipped in virtually un-noticed.

(Hey, Echelon! It's me again!)

We DO have gangs. Admittedly not quite as bad as some parts of the States, but they're here too.

How close can protestors get to the White House in order to protest? I imagine it's a lot closer than 1 mile - no political protest, organised or otherwise, can be held anywhere near Westminster, and even then you have to tell the police beforehand. One mile is as close as you can get.

We have one CCTV camera for every 14 people, and the ratio is increasing steadily.

What public transportation? It's all been sold off - without the electorate's permission, I might add - and it sure as hell wasn't improved as a result, despite what was claimed. Certainly nobody asked ME if I wanted it done. The same with our public utilities, British Telecom and others - paid for by the public. They were OURS, and as far as I'm concerned they have been STOLEN! There is a world of difference between ownership and control, which Thatcher and her cronies didn't understand (or, more likely, care about) - the government did NOT own the utilities, it merely controlled them. Now it doesn't control a damn thing except the population - and they're even telling us what we can and can't do in our bedrooms, with the possible outlawing of consensual BDSM acts at some point in the future; at least it seems to be heading that way.

We have a so-called government which betrayed the very founding principles of half of it, i.e. the Liberal Democrats. Did anyone here see the Doctor Who episode "The Sound of Drums", in which Harry Saxon, a.k.a. the Master, berated his own cabinet after they "betrayed your own parties and jumped on the Saxon bandwagon"? Substitute "Tory" for "Saxon" and you've got a pretty accurate picture of what happened here.
Of course the Master did gas his cabinet to death, so it isn't *quite* parallel, but there are times when it seems a good idea to me.

The point about the pointless unending war is fair enough - though for a clearer picture, Americans could do a lot worse than read Naomi Klein's excellent book "The Shock Doctrine". I'm halfway through it, and it's sure as hell been an eye-opener.

As for our schools - well, I despair. Dumbing-down is rife, but at least our employers have the sense to complain about applicants who write letters and CVs in textspk, talk in slang at interviews and yet expect starting salaries of £35,000 or more. I'd be more than happy on less than half that.

Yes, I would have to switch my brain off to do the kind of job I'm going for. What I didn't mention earlier is that I've already had to do that for over 9 years; from 2000 to 2009 I worked in a warehouse. I have a degree and a string of other qualifications, mostly in IT...I did all that work precisely in order to AVOID ending up in that sort of job. But in the UK there is NO industry harder to get into than IT if you don't have "commercial experience", i.e. you've already worked in IT. Classic Catch-22. I took the warehouse job because it was literally all I could get; I was still there 9 years later because I couldn't afford to leave unless I was pretty much guaranteed to get an IT-related job...which was virtually impossible. And at 45, the age I am now, the IT industry reckons I'm way too old anyway. All my qualifications are out of date; I got my degree in 1993 when procedural-based languages were all there was, object-oriented languages were an impossible dream, and MS-DOS still had to be loaded via a 5 1/2" floppy - I can't afford any kind of retraining in the newer web-based scripting languages in vogue. All I know about most of them is that they exist. Even if I got the training, I'd still lack the experience. Catch-22 doesn't give in as easily as that.

So what else am I supposed to do? I can't do the job I originally wanted, but the bills aren't going to go away.

And how did this become a political rant? :)

I'd like to move. For a variety of reasons I've had it with this country. But there's no way I can afford it unless I could somehow secure employment before I go - and how exactly can I do that in the face of competition from the citizens of the country I'm trying to emigrate to? Emigration is harder now than it's ever been. I've even considered doing volunteer work in Africa as part of the conservation effort. If nothing else it'd be a hell of a lot more interesting than doing little all day but looking for work and writing Firely fan fiction (though that last IS interesting, of course!).

Anyone here read Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love"? In it, Lazarus Long said: "If you live in a society that votes, then do so. There may be no issues or candidates you want to vote FOR...but there are sure to be ones you want to vote AGAINST. In case of doubt, vote AGAINST. By this rule you will rarely go wrong."

I've been doing that since 1997. What Tony Bliar (not a typo; I never could stand him, that insincere smile just got my back up) and the rest never understood was that we did NOT vote FOR Labour - we voted AGAINST the Tories (the Lib Dems didn't count, really). But subsequent governments and their policies have proven so unpalatable that I've ended up bringing Heinlein's argument to its logical conclusion - by refusing to vote for ANY of them. 1997 was the last time I voted. I had high hopes for Y2K as a means for destroying the current structure and giving a new one a chance, removing the Old boy Network that currently rules our country. At least you guys get to elect your mayors, police chiefs and judges - we get whoever we're given!

Don't you dare say that this means I'm not entitled to complain. The hell I'm not. I paid taxes to the government while working, and even the dole is taxable (if so low it isn't actually taxed). What I want to see is a new option on the ballot paper: None Of The Above. Give me that and I'll be quite happy to exercise my franchise. At least with NotA the politicians know which way people are voting; as it stands, they misinterpret poor electoral turnout as apathy. Wrong. We DO care. We care very much. But there is no longer any real difference between political parties in this country, so voting is essentially pointless. Hobson's Choice doesn't fit my concept of democracy.

I often wonder, though: is there a minimum number of voters? Suppose they gave an election and nobody came?

A government is a group of people - usually, notably, ungoverned.

- attributed to Malcolm Reynolds

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011 5:51 AM

BYTEMITE

Really, it seems like most of the first world nations have become police states, quietly, without anyone noticing unlike the more obvious ones (USSR, fascism, military dictatorships).

The trick they've pulled is conniving us into thinking we have choices when there are none, then we become psychologically invested in those choices, because we want to believe we still have some say in our own lives when really we never have. Money talks, lobbyists talk, and the old powers with some truly scary ideas hold even more sway than either.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011 1:00 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Quote:
Hardware: Your statement scares me, pure and simple. I can't imagine a society much worse and frightening than a Nazi-run society.

But he's really into their snappy uniforms and the way they treated "liberals"!

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011 1:58 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Hi Mouse, I'm sorry people turned this into a place to spew vitriolic talk, you might as well have written it in RWED. :) with the attitudes that some posters brought to the proverbial table. I want you to find a sollution that works for you. When I first got my degree I had to volunteer at NAMI for a year before I got paid. But I was still getting experience in the field and that was what I lacked, the experience. You're getting income currently, so maybe you could volunteer in the field you want to be in to get experience and then you'll have that experience you've been unable to get. You're in a position to where you could volunteer for six months or something and get that experience and then go look for a job that pays. Just an idea.

Yeah, I'm really glad I live in the states. Even though it isn't perfect here I think it has a lot of advantages, sure there are some things that we don't have, but I guess no where is perfect. I know immigration is really hard now adays, but I thought since the EU has such wussy immigration rules between EU countries that it would be possible in some situations for you to move, though I don't know your specific situation, you might have family you need to stay near etc. I think though upon considering it that England is a country that has held out against the EU monster, at least you guys are doing one thing right. :) You've still got your own currency after all.

Even though others were snotty to you I know this is frustrating for you and you were looking for a place to vent and have a conversation.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Wednesday, May 11, 2011 3:14 AM

DREAMTROVE

ETA: God, this post is way too long, I have to delete stuff.

Mouse

Huh. I guess you're not a sockpuppet. Sorry, was half thinking that you were. We have a lot of politically minded users, and Haken deliberstely silenced politics to keep it off his main page. He wants firefly stuff on the main page. You can see where someone with a political agenda might want to reach a wider audience for their rant, and how Haken might take them to task for this, so they might create a second account for the purposes of doing so. I kinda was assuming this was the case, so sorry about the rant.

Quote:
Originally posted by Anonymouse:
Hmm. I was just sounding off; I didn't expect vitriol.

In politics? [/snark] (sorry. If ranting, politically, expect vitriol. Especially here

)

Quote:
First, sorry for putting my original post in the wrong area. :)

It was an honest mistake. I did it my first time here, I said something political in General and got my head handed to me. Now I understand why.

£65 a week - I knew that, i was being snarky. But you guys get a housing allowance. I assume the test placed you out of free training because they judged you "employable". In all fairness, in the US we have a serious issue with entitlements. All income under $100k pays a 15% entitlement tax.

Quote:
We DO have a police state, but it's shadowy and subtle;

Come to america sometime ;) We have millions of people employed in *internal* military paramilitary to keep americans in line. Now, if you do come here, you'll meet people from El Salvador who will mock our police state and say "come to El Salvador" and they have a point.

Our last three admin. Have been chipping away at our Bill of Rights and now, alas, it's basically gone. There's not one item left you can expect the US govt. To uphold. (BTW, we have the bill of rights not because we have a constitution: the federalists created the constitution to get rid of the bill of rights, it just failed, as a tactic. We have the bill of rights because we were british colonies when it was signed into law in 1689.) Ergo, you should be protected by the original text.

Quote:
RIPA is sort of an equivalent of the Patriot Act ... Criminal Justice & Immigration Act

Yes, you have our bad economic models too. Now you have the FSA which is like the FED, and the whole subprime nonsense, thank Bliar for that, but it's pretty clear that our countries are run by the same people.
Re: Gangs, sorry, that was a reference to Africa, not America. Our gangs are nothing compared to Africa.
Re: protesters: not as close as they used to get, and of course the white house now has snipers on the roof. They proposed a wall around the Mall, and a glass wall where you could see the govt from a distance but not touch, in the name of terrorism, but it didn't pass. The media hyped it a lot about five or six years ago. Doesn't matter though, neither your politicians nor mine have any power.

Re: Public Transportation? tranports the public. Doesn't mean it's publically owned. The Burlington Northern is a public transportation system, it serves the city of Chicago, but it's never been part of the govt. It has competition, too. It's still public transit. Meaning, it's possible to get around Chicago without owning your own car. Did they shut down the system?

"The Sound of Drums" is one of the few I missed. "The Shock Doctrine". Ill take a look. Obama has added some radical ideas to Bush's already radical doctrine, but right now he has everyone drinking the Koolaid over his Osama mock up.

Re: IT, You can work online. My neighbor works for a company in Denver, CO, from NY. But hey, it could be in Bangalore. Think outsided the box. I have no IT education but I've had lots of these jobs. Skip the resume, write a piece of code and show it to them and say "hey, look what I can do" and their usual response is "you're hired." You don't need to buy anything. All this stuff is online. That's how I learned it, and yes, you have to keep up, but it doesn't change all that much. OOP isn't really an earthshaking concept, it's more of a bureaucratic formality so that other people can read and use your code. I avoid using it whenever possible. Learn that, but mostly becsuse you have to know it to do App programming, which is a bureaucratic nightmare, but it's the only thing that's paying right now. That, and jQuery. There lots of jobs in the UK in jQuery, I seriously considered applying for one. From here. Most of the competition will be in India. Ut you're just as samrt as they are, if you apply yourself. Or you could make the next Y2K. I'm an idiot for not getting in on it. No one told me they were going to make $182 billion off of it.

Quote:
I'd like to move. For a variety of reasons I've had it with this country.

I'll trade you. It's easier for you to move now though, you can go anywhere in Europe.

Quote:
At least you guys get to elect your mayors, police chiefs and judges - we get whoever we're given!

Good point. I'll give you that one.

Quote:
Suppose they gave an election and nobody came?

Lol. I kinda like Cameron, though I disagree with him om the Muslim thing. My own take is "don't vote for politicians, it only encourages them."

Seriously, the least worst option leads to voting for C'thulhu on the grounds that he's better than Yog-sothoth. My favorite Heinlein line on politics is "i don't like to mix writing and politics. You're bound to alienate at least half the audience, but also, i worked in politics. I started out as a socialist in the 20s, when that went to hell in the 30s, I became a democrat, only to be disillusioned again in the 40s. Point being: I've been wrong before, so it is reasonable to assume that I am wrong now. Why would I want to teach anyone something that is wrong?"

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, May 11, 2011 3:55 AM

BYTEMITE

Quote:
Tranports the public. Doesn't mean it's publically owned. The Burlington Northern is a public transportation system, it serves the city of Chicago, but it's never been part of the govt. It has competition, too. It's still public transit. Meaning, it's possible to get around Chicago without owning your own car

In the most egregious cases I'm aware of, this doesn't mean the UK government sold to private companies, it means they decommissioned some of their public transportation to try to save money.

This is what happened with the London airports this year. Even in the US we got loads of reports about a December "blizzard" that shut down half the country. I actually went over there to see my brother over Christmas, and the "blizzard" was two freaking inches. The problem was they'd gotten rid of their winter road maintenance fleet, and so were actually unequipped to deal with any amount of snow. And they didn't give it over to a private business to do instead, they just completely cut them out. Very short-sighted.

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