jlc

I was reflecting on the articles I have read that indicate that millennials, as a generation (irrespective of gender) place 'getting ahead at work' at a lower priority than prior generations. This is a bottom-up phenomenon, and not an imposed regulation.

It is interesting to observe.

Jan

I learned tons of technical goo in college, including how to streak a Petri dish for isolation of a colony of bacteria and then take that isolated colony and perform biochemical tests on it to identify it. I could not have learned this from home study. In my 4 years, I took 3 classes (required) that were not math or science. This bachelors degree could not get me a job - lack of the degree excludes you from job markets, but the presence of the degree does not guarantee you a job (so I joined the AF).

I took some courses in JC (later in my life) and found them pathetic. For example: When I dropped out of a Psych class [long story], I took the professor aside and showed him my notes: I had attended his class for a few weeks and I had found two things he had said worth writing down. I asked him if I had missed noting anything important. He was aghast. He thought a while, and agreed with me - he said that he had not realized he had diluted his lectures that much since he had stopped teaching at the University. So I regard JC's more as extended High Schools than as colleges.

I had a boyfriend who was a genius. He had dropped out of college and was therefore relegated to working on assembly lines in tractor factories because he did not have the 'magic piece of paper'. Anywhere he showed intelligence and initiative, he was fired; no one wanted to supervise a maverick who was smarter than they were.

So, yes on college if classes are technical; no on JC unless you want to clean up what you missed in HS or learn a trade. Yes you need the 'magic piece of paper', but it will only keep you from being excluded from consideration, it will not grant you a job.

Jan

Thanks, MikeMarotta. I actually looked up to see if there were also a star by the name you typed! It is a tough crowd around the Gulch and I doublecheck before I correct.

EAJ's link (http://musingsofanaspie.com/2013/01/1...) was a pleasure to read, in an "Anthropologist on Mars" sense. It is a good thing that I have dogs, because it means that I have something I can chat with normal people about.

Jan

Analysis of the pay gap supports your argument. This could be solved by women choosing to put paid work at a higher priority, but my observations suggest the opposite: this is going to be resolved by men putting paid work at a lower priority.

Jan

Ha! jpellone. Fun joke.

The reasonable answer to your question is: Why does someone have to carry 3 packs of shingles up a ladder at one time? How about one pack of shingles, and make 3 trips? While women do not have the strength per se of men, we do have greater endurance, so we should take advantage of that.

Joke: Why did the man want to reincarnate as a spider?

Jan

You are correct. The first thing to do with your money is to spend it well on goods that will improve your life and security even if the SHTF.

Jan

I have read the comments and think that the real corner case here is whether or not a person who cannot support themselves (ie in a coma) and who has no friends and relatives who can support them should be cared for by taxes if voluntary donations do not suffice.

Employable Down's Syndrome cases and loving families miss the point of the question.

Jan

AE van Vogt's books have not aged well for me - probably due to their being utterly steeped in 1950's gender mindset (often, this does not bother me in older SF, but for van Vogt and Doc Smith it does). I remember reading Slan when I was a kid.

Fortunately, at several schools I attended, they shelved the teachers books in the same library as the kids' books...so I was able to get hold of Canticle for Leibowitcz and some other good stuff.

The term "mundane" has been used a lot: B5 had the PsyCorp apply it to non-telepaths, and the SCA uses it to refer to unimaginative and uninteresting normal people (who do not do reenactment; SciFi and interesting people are exempted, even if they do not do medieval reenactment).

This is all tribalism, but I don't really disapprove. I would rather be a slan.

Jan
"Aldebaran"???

Thank you for that list. I like your ideas. If anyone disagrees with you, let me know and I will run my finger across their throat.

Jan

Yeah, but follow EAJ's link for an article that is like a drink of cold water after a long hike (in the mountains, singing songs whist following the Nazi flag...Jan free associates with later post at this point...). I mean: Can I really learn to make meaningless small talk with boring people and become socially acceptable???!!!

Jan

That is dynamite. Thank you so much EAJ! I have copied that link and sent it to my friends. Wow. I hope that guy writes a whole book - maybe I can get a handle on how to deal with these people some day.

Jan

Overall, I agree: that is what happened. But if you look way back at Bronze Age societies, they run the spectrum from cultures where women play a major role (Crete) to cultures where women live in virtually a separate society than men and are regarded as possessions of their fathers, who then transfer that ownership to their husbands (Greece).

So, even before the Industrial Revolution there were a lot of different ways for society to deal with men and women. But. By the end of the Bronze Age, all of the cultures had pretty much relegated women to a secondary status. This, as you say, lasted until the Industrial Revolution.

I do not have an answer for this, but I am interested in it and am looking for information.

Jan

Both epidemics having microencephaly as a symptom...

Jan

We have had a number of highly toxic workers. These were people who charismatic and had an unrealistically high opinion of themselves; they did not perform well. (Though, if you asked them about how well they performed, they would give you a glowing self-report.)

Sometimes, I was oblivious to the toxicity of a particular person...until they left the company and then everyone breathed a sigh of relief (myself included). I thought it was just me. Then, afterwards, people come up to you and tell you the stories...

Jan, learning

I fear that a new Constitutional Convention right now will strip the Bill of Rights and remove all of the existing protection for individual freedom. If we can bend the US people closer to Objectivism first, then will be the time for a new CC.

The way to do this is the underlying cause for the existence of this website: a movie. A trilogy of movies about Objectivism. We have to win the hearts of people, then their brains, then their little fingers writing a new and better Constitution.

Jan

Huh. Interesting observation. I will have to think about this, but it does ring true, doesn't it?

Jan

I would like you to be correct, unfortunately, what I believe would happen is that such a 3rd party would split the people who care about liberty away from the people who are inertia-voting the party line and insure a victory for explicitly socialist individuals.

Jan

Nice metaphor. And quite accurate, I think.

Jan

10 points. But I can't get the damn hand to accept the additional nine...still trying.

Jan

Actually, from what I have read, if you take into consideration the observation that women tend to put in less overtime, then the work-per-hour comes out about equal for men and women. And given that working overtime is often what gets you ahead of your contemporaries and in line for the next promotion, it also explains some of the discrepancy about women in higher positions.

That being said, my head is still bruised from all the glass ceilings I hit it on whilst I was in the military - which was a good reason for getting out when my 4 years was up. Which I did.

Insofar as the 'need for muscle', I agree with CircuitGuy: muscle is overrated. Handy to have, but rarely essential. I suspect, for example, that there are women who could pitch a grenade 15 yards without a problem; and some men who could not. The criteria for 'who throws a grenade' should be 'who can throw it >15 yards' not 'are your reproductive organs internal or external'.

Women have made huge inroads on a social structure that has limited us for thousands of years; it should not be forgotten that it was MEN who voted in favor of women's suffrage - we do not say 'thank you' often enough for that. It will take a while for women roofers to be common, and it may never be that 50% of the roofers will be women. In the meantime, women doctors and lawyers and scientists are everyday phenomena. This was not true in the world that many of us grew up in.

Jan, counsels patience

Actually, johnpe, you have invented a wonderful new word: "mightmares". "Mightmares" = the fear that someone in power will destroy your sleep by their abuse of their authority.

Jan, having mightmares now

This is one of my even-day/odd-day issues. I do not want to be The World's Policeman. Nor do I think that Democracy is the best choice for every people of every country. It was not our best choice until we had had centuries of monarchy and parliamentary monarchy under our historical belts, and the ability to go from a tribal or feudal state to democracy is a questionable path.

On the other hand, on even days I say to myself, "Well, we certainly wanted to fight the Nazi's and the Japanese during WWII." How can we maintain our integrity as a nation if we ignore a countries attempt to enslave others? It would be like walking by an assault on the street and not trying to stop it.

Jan

Perhaps...if we had not been part of this from the beginning. But now the US is the Great Enemy and if we let them win they will be able to consolidate more resources to use against us.

Jan

Midgard is "middle" plus "yard or enclosure" ('farm').

Asgard is "Aesir" (god - goes back to 'ahura' in PIE) plus "yard or enclosure".

The other seven worlds of Norse mythology all end in "heim" (home); only Asgard and Midgard are considered enclosures or farms. Hmmm.

Jan

Fascinating. What was the full name of the place? I can get the [---]Kommunegaard from what you said, but I am curious to know what is in the [---].

Jan