We don't set the Queen's schedule (it's far from empty, even though she's over 90 years old and still on the job), and the Governor-General doesn't just sit around doing nothing.
Random Rants OA - I Have 71 Problems, But This Thread Ain't One
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I'm not sure I'd want the Queen's schedule, even now she's over 90.
schlaufuchs
Break My Heart
Naw: it's a take-home final (i.e. short-form paper). And I said consolidating the notes was going to be a pain.
Timsup2nothin
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The national weather service predicted snow last night in Palmdale, and of course it didn't snow. Now, I have no problem with cutting weather predictors some slack. Weather, by its nature, is as unpredictable as...well...the weather. And I don't expect li'l old Palmdale to be considered important enough to scrap their predictive models and start over.
But, there's got to be some willingness to examine procedures and results. On average it snows in Palmdale maybe once in five years. The national weather service models barf out "snow in Palmdale" at least two or three times every winter. How hard would it be to set up a reminder so that when the model says "snow in Palmdale" a message pops up saying "the model has gotten this wrong 95% of the times it has come up, so maybe you should disregard this."
But, there's got to be some willingness to examine procedures and results. On average it snows in Palmdale maybe once in five years. The national weather service models barf out "snow in Palmdale" at least two or three times every winter. How hard would it be to set up a reminder so that when the model says "snow in Palmdale" a message pops up saying "the model has gotten this wrong 95% of the times it has come up, so maybe you should disregard this."
tjs282
Stone \ Cold / Fish
You can have ours and welcome. We've had pretty much zero snow for the entire winter where we are (N.Germany), and then suddenly we start getting it now -- when it's going to be be bloomin' March in <24 hours' time...
Timsup2nothin
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You can have ours and welcome. We've had pretty much zero snow for the entire winter where we are (N.Germany), and then suddenly we start getting it now -- when it's going to be be bloomin' March in <24 hours' time...
Oh, I don't want any, thanks. Palmdale getting snow once every five years or so is fine with me. I just can't understand how the weather service can make the exact same mistake so often and consistently and not figure it out.
My apt. manager had me recertify my lease in january. late in january my employer sent her an employment verification which mistakenly said I worked overtime. My rent jumped hugely because it's income based, but the thing is, I don't actually work any overtime at all. They corrected the document they sent over originally but my apt mgr still has it down on her paperwork that I owed extra rent money for this month based on the faulty data in the original. She absolutely refuses to do anything about it, despite, I re-iterate, having received the corrected information. It was not an update; it did not change. It was a retroactively applied correction. She did update this month's rent back to something reasonable, but last month's, she doesn't give a damn about. I called the apt. company's home office and got her regional manager, but it's just an automated friggin' voicemail box.
I talked to my employer again after all this and they want no part in it, they've admitted their mistake but want me to sort it out on my own now. I don't care if they pay the $50 fee (it is, after all, their mistake) but obviously they don't want to do that. And really, they shouldn't have to. It's very easy paperwork, just erase that old data you submitted because it's freaking faulty! And you know it, you damn fraud. But she "can't do that, I've already submitted it and it's in the records; you owe us,".
I will put it in escrow and take this to small claims if I have to... I am not gonna be pushed around again. Last year I got a notice from a new apt manager (I've had like 5 over 3 years) that I owed them $37 from the time of the previous apt. manager (months and months ago). I never received ANY information about what this money was for or why, specifically, I owed it. Just, "one of the last managers didn't do this paperwork right,". Okay, good for you, that's your fault, bank error in my favor. Get the hell outta here tryin' to make me pay you money without telling me what it's for. I did pay that $37 because after stonewalling for 2 months they threw up a five-day eviction notice on my door and I wasn't as broke then as I am now. To expand on that, I've been paycheck to paycheck for six of them and it looks like it's going to go on this way for another month before I get my feet back under me.
edit: and to add insult to injury I've been without hot water for two weeks, showering at my parents' place. The part to replace my water heater has been in the mail for 10 days, apparently. This is also unacceptable.
I talked to my employer again after all this and they want no part in it, they've admitted their mistake but want me to sort it out on my own now. I don't care if they pay the $50 fee (it is, after all, their mistake) but obviously they don't want to do that. And really, they shouldn't have to. It's very easy paperwork, just erase that old data you submitted because it's freaking faulty! And you know it, you damn fraud. But she "can't do that, I've already submitted it and it's in the records; you owe us,".
I will put it in escrow and take this to small claims if I have to... I am not gonna be pushed around again. Last year I got a notice from a new apt manager (I've had like 5 over 3 years) that I owed them $37 from the time of the previous apt. manager (months and months ago). I never received ANY information about what this money was for or why, specifically, I owed it. Just, "one of the last managers didn't do this paperwork right,". Okay, good for you, that's your fault, bank error in my favor. Get the hell outta here tryin' to make me pay you money without telling me what it's for. I did pay that $37 because after stonewalling for 2 months they threw up a five-day eviction notice on my door and I wasn't as broke then as I am now. To expand on that, I've been paycheck to paycheck for six of them and it looks like it's going to go on this way for another month before I get my feet back under me.
edit: and to add insult to injury I've been without hot water for two weeks, showering at my parents' place. The part to replace my water heater has been in the mail for 10 days, apparently. This is also unacceptable.
I got overcharged 12 cents by a restaurant in the Denver airport.
When predictive models give low odds of precipitation, most American weather services will fudge the numbers (or tone of probability) up, to avoid people getting upset at precipitation happening when odds were low.
When predictive models give low odds of precipitation, most American weather services will fudge the numbers (or tone of probability) up, to avoid people getting upset at precipitation happening when odds were low.
Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
Tried watching YouTube on my TV. The ads (which are mostly just other YouTube videos at this point) load and play flawlessly but the actual videos start buffering immediately.
Sigh. Back to PC with adblocker.
Sigh. Back to PC with adblocker.
hobbsyoyo
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Sorry to hear this but I'm happy you're willing to stand up for yourself and taking it to court. I hope it works out for you and you don't actually have to go to court.
It's really tough trying to fight landlords and corporations about money that is petty cash to them but vital to you. Back when I quit t-mobile, I made sure to do it well after my contract expired. I even called them to make sure I was out of contract. Then when I cancelled, they waited several months to send me to collections claiming I owed them for a full month of service for like 3 days of use and for breach of contract. I did not have the means to go to court (no car and no time thanks to an overloaded course load) and ended up having to pay.
I'm pretty cheesed off about that whole West Virginia teacher strike. Why? It just strikes me as being extremely selfish for teachers to go on strike for higher wages. Do teacher's deserve more money? Maybe. But striking is not the answer because teachers going on strike doesn't hurt their employer, it hurts their students. Every day the teachers are on strike is a day the students are out of school and can't learn. I also think it sends a terrible message to students. It tells them that their teachers think money is more important than educating the next generation of Americans.
This is especially true because it's not like teachers are being paid slave wages. While you could make the argument that teachers are underpaid (I don't think they are and I think technology is going to drive their wages down further, but that's a discussion for another time), the average teacher's salary is still well above what would be considered a living wage, especially in a state like West Virginia. Some quick research shows that the average yearly income to be considered a "living wage" in West Virginia is approximately $39,478. The average teacher salary in West Virginia is around $44,660. So they are living comfortably above the living wage standard in their state and aren't even close to the poverty line in West Virginia either. So yeah, tell me again why they deserve more money? Better yet, tell me again how their need for more money is so great that it warrants depriving their students of their right to an education for a few days?
Personally, I think teachers should be treated like the police: They can have a union, but have no legal right to go on strike.
This is especially true because it's not like teachers are being paid slave wages. While you could make the argument that teachers are underpaid (I don't think they are and I think technology is going to drive their wages down further, but that's a discussion for another time), the average teacher's salary is still well above what would be considered a living wage, especially in a state like West Virginia. Some quick research shows that the average yearly income to be considered a "living wage" in West Virginia is approximately $39,478. The average teacher salary in West Virginia is around $44,660. So they are living comfortably above the living wage standard in their state and aren't even close to the poverty line in West Virginia either. So yeah, tell me again why they deserve more money? Better yet, tell me again how their need for more money is so great that it warrants depriving their students of their right to an education for a few days?
Personally, I think teachers should be treated like the police: They can have a union, but have no legal right to go on strike.
Timsup2nothin
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That's understandable, but on this particular statement; "snow in Palmdale," they seriously run an error rate that has to be above 90%. Nobody here could really be upset by what they say, because they are pretty much a laughing stock at this point. Nobody really pays any attention to them anyway, since if you predicted tomorrow's weather as "pretty much same as today" you'd be right well over 300 days a year...but the snow thing really stands out because it gets spewed out over cell phones as a "severe weather alert."
Zkribbler
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X amount of days are mandated & are therefore added onto the end of the term.
I also think it sends a terrible message to students. It tells them that their SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS think money is more important than educating the next generation of Americans. [Fixed]
the average teacher's salary is still well above what would be considered a living wage, especially in a state like West Virginia. Some quick research shows that the average yearly income to be considered a "living wage" in West Virginia is approximately $39,478. The AVERAGE teacher salary in West Virginia is around $44,660. ... So yeah, tell me again why they deserve more money?
Teachers are not average citizens. They have college degrees. Then they need more schooling for teaching credentials. I don't know about WV, but California requires teachers to then take continuing education courses throughout their careers. Yet, they are the LOWEST-PAID professionals.
They do not work 9-5. They must get there early. Then, when the school day is over, they come home, grade tests & homework, and prepare for the next day. My mom was a school teacher; she regularly worked until ~10 at night.
Furthermore, highschool teachers have to deal with highschool kids - and no sane person wants that ^^
Yet, at least, they have more holidays (including each Saturday) than most other salaried workers.
So do 40% of Americans. College degrees aren't anything special nowadays. Bachelor's degrees are pretty much treated like high school diplomas now and are a dime a dozen. Even master's degrees are becoming increasingly common. So please, come down off your "I went to college" high horse. A college education is actually very average nowadays and isn't anything special. That's why you see so many college graduates working as baristas at Starbucks.
Did you ever stop to think this has something to do with demand for teachers decreasing? If there isn't a demand for a certain profession, wages for that profession tend to stagnate or drop. With the advent of online public school and more and more parents opting for that educational route for their children, we are going to see the demand for teachers drop significantly in the coming years. I know this because we have our daughter in one of those online public schools and they have one teacher assigned to an entire region of a state where they may manage hundreds of students. This is possible because the teacher has more of a hands-off role with parents doing most of the legwork.
And before you start quoting all these articles talking about a teacher shortage, let me stop you right there. Yes, there is a sharp decline in the supply of qualified teachers. However, what all these articles fail to mention is how a lot of states are choosing to deal with the shortage. Rather than providing incentives to increase the supply of teachers, states are trying to find ways to reduce the demand for them in the first place. The online public schools I mentioned above are one such solution to the teaching shortage. So just because there is a shortage, does not necessarily mean the demand for teachers is increasing.
And those who choose that career path know that going in. They also know what teachers get paid. It's not like wage information is some tightly held secret. So they can't really volunteer for that career path, knowing full-well what they are getting into and then complain about it later. It's the whole "you made your bed, now lie it" thing.
But all this is beside the point. My issue is the fact that these teachers went on strike and disrupted the school year for their own greed (and it is greed). They could have continued negotiating while still staying on the job, but no they just had to have their money NOW!
At the end of the day though, you are right about one thing: teachers aren't average citizens, but not in the way you mean it. They are public servants, and public servants should not have the right to go on strike, no matter what their working conditions are. I would be just as disgusted at police officers if they went on strike for higher wages as well.
Don't forget about benefits as well. Most teachers in the US are government employees, and government employees get a benefits package that is leagues ahead of anything provided by the private sector. People also forget to factor those benefits in when saying teachers are underpaid. Sure, their take-home pay may be lower than other college graduates, but when you factor in the dollar value of their benefits package, their "total compensation" is actually pretty decent.
They also have job security that most other Americans simply don't have. This is indicated by the fact that they can go on strike and not get fired. Ask private sector employees if they would have a job the following day if they went on strike for higher wages. Or soldiers. You know what happens to a soldier that refuses to work? Prison and having their life ruined by a dishonorable discharge.
Sorry, but teachers simply don't have it that bad compared to other Americans. At least, not bad enough to warrant going on strike. They are paid well above what is considered a living wage while millions of other Americans struggle just to stay above the poverty line. But no, Zkribbler's right, teachers are the ones really struggling in our society
. Teachers talk about how poorly they are paid, yet I've never heard about a teacher being forced to go on welfare just to survive like millions of other American workers.Sorry, but teachers simply don't have it that bad compared to other Americans. At least, not bad enough to warrant going on strike. They are paid well above what is considered a living wage while millions of other Americans struggle just to stay above the poverty line. But no, Zkribbler's right, teachers are the ones really struggling in our society
This may come as a total surprise but in a normal Western country it is possible to both tackle poverty and pay teachers well. Besides which, teachers are a vital investment in the future, because without them, the future generations aren't going to develop as well as they could have done. Short-sightedness is totally a thing in the human psyche, but don't start dressing it up as noble or honourable because you personally disagree with their actions.
Can you imagine over 65 years of having to pretend to be interested in whatever you've been invited to look at, people you've been invited to meet, and events you've been invited to participate in?
Unless it involves horses or corgis, I can't imagine she was very interested in a lot of it, although of course it was an honor for most of the people she did meet.
And of course every parent is 100% qualified to do a teacher's job... not. And what happens if/when the system goes down? Are the parents just supposed to wing it? How do they ensure that the kids don't cheat on exams? Is the curriculum the same for kids who aren't online as for those who are?
I do agree that teachers' strikes are a bad thing. Yes, they're holding the students hostage for more money. But sometimes they do have valid points about being overworked, underfunded, and told to meet unrealistic goals.
But I get the impression that if you were Canadian and writing posts on the CBC comment boards, you'd be one of the people who habitually denigrate our Prime Minister for his past profession as a teacher, claiming that "he never worked a day in his life." These people have never answered me when I've asked them how many teachers they're willing to say that to in person.
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