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Journal: my response to slashdot beta

Journal by prgrmr


Comment: Re:Information paradox? (Score 1) 193




Comment: mercy killing (Score 1) 308


Comment: rigged tests are unimpressive (Score 1) 114


Comment: Just enforce the existing laws (Score 1) 649

by prgrmr (#42790645) Attached to: Richard Stallman's Solution To 'Too Big To Fail'
It's the same solution as always: simply enforce the laws we have. Enforce anti-trust law, enforce truth in advertising law, enforce laws against anti-competitive behavior by monopoly and near--monopoly sized corporations. If the SEC had enforced its regs fully against Goldman Sachs, et al, that were on one hand recommending to their customers to buy mortgage-backed securities, and on the other hand having a prohibition against them for in-house investing and NOT telling their customers about this, they would not have been able to dump as many of these junk securities on other banks or the government.

Comment: Don't disappear, go offensive (Score 1) 789

by prgrmr (#41102305) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What Would Your 'I've Got To Disappear' Plan Look Like?
Governments outlive people, so there's no way you could take enough cash or resources with you if you don't already have a safe house setup somewhere. So go offensive and immediately get to your attorney who should be well versed in federal criminal law as well as civil law and have some understanding of international law with regard to protecting you from getting extradited. Have your attorney appeal to your state's/province's attorney general office for protection because you witnessed a possible criminal act and you now fear for your safety. (That you are fearing for your safety from the federal government is irrelevant as far as the A.G. should be concerned).

You will also want to simultaneously arrange for a "leak" to your local newspaper and TV station as well as sending anonymous "leaks" to national newspapers, cable news networks, and the AP in case the A.G's office just turns you over to the feds. Ensure that your attorney has several of his partners or even another law firm in on what's going on, so you have defense in-depth in case someone gets cold feet (genuine or is paid-off to), so there will be someone to file the appropriate papers with the courts. Also let you family and friends know so that if the feds are intent on making your "disappear" it won't happen without considerable notice.

And above all, don't be naive: if the feds want you, they are going to get you. Don't waste time, money, or effort preventing it, just presume it will happen and deal with it from that point on.

Comment: choices for real action (Score 1) 708

by prgrmr (#40554419) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Do I Stay Employable?
1. Leverage your industry knowledge and move to a company that's still in the financial industry, but doesn't handle other people's money. These companies (start-ups aside) are generally more stable now that we are 4 years beyond the home mortgage melt-down, and they have less risk. This, of course, means they offer less rewards (lower base salaries, lesser or no bonuses), but that's the trade-off for not worrying about getting laid-off

2. Management, but only if you want to embrace the accountability. I'll assume you are all too aware of the politics of accountability in the financial industry. Being a manager is willingly putting yourself in the political cross-hairs. It's going to be like that to a lesser degree in any industry, so if you can't take that sort of heat, stay out of the management kitchen.

3. Stay in programming if you love what you do and are at all good at it. It's much easier to get up and go to work everyday doing something you love, or even just like, than something you hate to do but think it's better because of the pay or benefits.

4. Look at small and mid-size companies. Ageism is much less of a factor in smaller companies. While being the jack-of-all-IT-trades has it's stress points, it also makes you somewhat indispensable to your employer, and is much easier to do in smaller IT shops.

5. Stay where you are and try to be the MVP. If you don't already know where the bodies are buried or what skeletons are in whose closet, you're not likely to find out now. So, you'll have to become valuable the old fashioned way: earning it. Find a skill set that is absolutely necessary to your companies bottom line, find out who on the business side cares about it, become and expert in the skill and the friend of those business folks. Now you have an advocate in a profit-center to go with your argument on the IT side for the company keeping you around. If you do good work and can make the effort to politically correctly for your environment to get acknowledgment for it (notice I did not say credit), then your work will *almost* speak for itself.

6. Pray.

You are in a maze of UUCP connections, all alike.