Outlaw all the gambling except Poker, I don't care. But poker is a sport! That was the rationale by the California Attorney General decades ago that got poker treated differently from other forms of gambling.
As soon as they introduce it in the Summer Olympics, I'm in!
Couldn't agree more. Of course, plenty of folks won't want their data on someone else's server, and others won't want network dependency, but there's a huge untapped market for folks who don't want to waste time or money on their own infrastructure. Yeah, it took them long enough to see it...
I could really use some good fake predictions. I'm always being asked how long something's going to take me when I have no basis for forecasting the time required. I'll sign up for one-a-day.
>< I>On the whole though, this basic point is unavoidable. Stealing time is the same as stealing money.
I think your "basic point" has an invalid premise. No one hires another person to work for an 8 hour day believing they are "buying" 28,800 seconds of continuous work. The closest anyone comes to that is the scum that runs sweatshops.
Yes, stealing time is the same as stealing money or anything else. If I show up, "punch-in" on the time clock, leave, come back in 8 hours, "punch-out", then I'm stealing. I can't imagine anyone disputing that. However, I also can't imagine anyone actually expecting a human employee to stay on-task for 8 full hours for 8 hours pay.
Say your employer "gives" you 2 fifteen minutes breaks and a 30 minute break during the 8 hours. Can you imagine any person staying on-task for no less than 7 hours? Did your thoughts wander for 1/2 second? Then you just stole a 1/2 second. Have you every taken 31 minutes on a 30 minute break? Watch it add up...
No, I think the people doing the hiring, and managing are humans (most of them), and they themselves don't stay on-task without let-up. And regardless of policy, they expect everyone working for them to behave in the same way they themselves do.
When managers try too hard to quantify everything so it can be "managed", it can easily become dehumanizing. You end up with proficiency experts looking over your shoulder with a stopwatch in one hand and a clipboard in the other.
Hire me to accomplish tasks with sufficient quality and quality, for an agreed upon amount of compensation, that will be profitable for you. If I deliver according to our mutually agreed expectations while playing solitaire 4 hours a day, then I have not stolen anything from anyone.
>< I>Bottom Line, folks, when you work at a job, you are selling your time to the employer. You are at work. the employer has every right to secure his systems as he sees fit.
And I have every right to quit and go work for a company that doesn't have tunnel-vision management.
>Let's assume that an average employee spends 1 hour a day on non work use of the Internet. that works out to 32 1/2 DAYS of lost productivity on a yearly basis.
Let's assume that an average employee spends 1 hour a day talking and thinking about work issues while "off the clock". That works out to 32 1/2 DAYS of UNPAID productivity on a yearly basis.
>So to a business man, if I can put a system in that simultanously innoculates him against some legal liability and adds a 12% gain in productivity over the year per employee, how is that not a win?
It's not a win if he drives away what would otherwise be his best employees.
>We have to get over the idea that we have numerous rights that somehow automatically trump the rights of others. The idea that rights are somehow absolute is fine for 9th grade civics class, but it doesn't work for a civil society.
You need to get over the 19th century idea that employers own their employees' time, rather than hiring a person with talent to accomplish particular goals for total compensation that makes the work profitable for the employer. And get rid of the foolish, short-sighted idea that a person's time is bought by the minute or by the hour. You can reasonably expect that from a machine, but employees are human. Focus on whether or not a person gets a job done, gets it done well, and gets it done fast enough to be worth what you're paying for it. If they accomplish a work goal in an "8 hour work day" that includes several or many mental breaks of short or long duration is irrelevant from the economic valuation of the end result.
>Your employer pays you to spend a certian amount of time focusing on his intrests, not yours. You don't have to like his rules, but you'll lump it if you like cashing the check.
Humans have limits. For example, we cannot concentrate undivided attention on anything for 8 hours at a time. Overall performance should be how work is evaluated, not by counting moments and comparing "useful" vs. "wasted". And I have news for you. If I don't like your rules, you're the one who will lump it, because I'll be finding a smarter employer.
On the post: Gambling Haters Don't Know When To Fold 'Em
Poker = Sport
Outlaw all the gambling except Poker, I don't care. But poker is a sport! That was the rationale by the California Attorney General decades ago that got poker treated differently from other forms of gambling.
As soon as they introduce it in the Summer Olympics, I'm in!
On the post: Amazon Offers Up The Platform That Google And Yahoo Should Have Built
All you need is a browser
On the post: Toothing Still Sounds Like A Hoax
By any other name...
On the post: Fake Prediction Markets Useless
There's a market for everything...
I could really use some good fake predictions. I'm always being asked how long something's going to take me when I have no basis for forecasting the time required. I'll sign up for one-a-day.
On the post: Rumors Of McNealy's Resignation Greatly Exaggerated
Whereabouts unknown?
On the post: Once Again, Company With Obvious Bias Warns Of The Horrors Of Personal Surfing
Re: It is all in the Numbers...
I think your "basic point" has an invalid premise. No one hires another person to work for an 8 hour day believing they are "buying" 28,800 seconds of continuous work. The closest anyone comes to that is the scum that runs sweatshops.
Yes, stealing time is the same as stealing money or anything else. If I show up, "punch-in" on the time clock, leave, come back in 8 hours, "punch-out", then I'm stealing. I can't imagine anyone disputing that. However, I also can't imagine anyone actually expecting a human employee to stay on-task for 8 full hours for 8 hours pay.
Say your employer "gives" you 2 fifteen minutes breaks and a 30 minute break during the 8 hours. Can you imagine any person staying on-task for no less than 7 hours? Did your thoughts wander for 1/2 second? Then you just stole a 1/2 second. Have you every taken 31 minutes on a 30 minute break? Watch it add up...
No, I think the people doing the hiring, and managing are humans (most of them), and they themselves don't stay on-task without let-up. And regardless of policy, they expect everyone working for them to behave in the same way they themselves do.
When managers try too hard to quantify everything so it can be "managed", it can easily become dehumanizing. You end up with proficiency experts looking over your shoulder with a stopwatch in one hand and a clipboard in the other.
Hire me to accomplish tasks with sufficient quality and quality, for an agreed upon amount of compensation, that will be profitable for you. If I deliver according to our mutually agreed expectations while playing solitaire 4 hours a day, then I have not stolen anything from anyone.
On the post: Once Again, Company With Obvious Bias Warns Of The Horrors Of Personal Surfing
Re: Right on!
And I have every right to quit and go work for a company that doesn't have tunnel-vision management.
>Let's assume that an average employee spends 1 hour a day on non work use of the Internet. that works out to 32 1/2 DAYS of lost productivity on a yearly basis.
Let's assume that an average employee spends 1 hour a day talking and thinking about work issues while "off the clock". That works out to 32 1/2 DAYS of UNPAID productivity on a yearly basis.
>So to a business man, if I can put a system in that simultanously innoculates him against some legal liability and adds a 12% gain in productivity over the year per employee, how is that not a win?
It's not a win if he drives away what would otherwise be his best employees.
>We have to get over the idea that we have numerous rights that somehow automatically trump the rights of others. The idea that rights are somehow absolute is fine for 9th grade civics class, but it doesn't work for a civil society.
You need to get over the 19th century idea that employers own their employees' time, rather than hiring a person with talent to accomplish particular goals for total compensation that makes the work profitable for the employer. And get rid of the foolish, short-sighted idea that a person's time is bought by the minute or by the hour. You can reasonably expect that from a machine, but employees are human. Focus on whether or not a person gets a job done, gets it done well, and gets it done fast enough to be worth what you're paying for it. If they accomplish a work goal in an "8 hour work day" that includes several or many mental breaks of short or long duration is irrelevant from the economic valuation of the end result.
>Your employer pays you to spend a certian amount of time focusing on his intrests, not yours. You don't have to like his rules, but you'll lump it if you like cashing the check.
Humans have limits. For example, we cannot concentrate undivided attention on anything for 8 hours at a time. Overall performance should be how work is evaluated, not by counting moments and comparing "useful" vs. "wasted". And I have news for you. If I don't like your rules, you're the one who will lump it, because I'll be finding a smarter employer.
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