tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post2780952701048715099..comments2024-03-05T10:52:24.691+00:00Comments on Mark Wadsworth: Post-It Notes and other stuff.Mark Wadsworthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-27814428100334770552014-06-08T23:45:42.740+01:002014-06-08T23:45:42.740+01:00if you have ever visited Jersey and seen what they...if you have ever visited Jersey and seen what they used to call the "German Underground Hospital", something of the horror strikes you...basically slaves mining a fortress through solid rock with minimal equipment....and it was never a "hospital" in any meaningful sense. Mind you, you can see much of the same in parts of Spain - Franco reused a lot of Hitler's ideas when it came to excavating rail/road tunnels.Graemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11007306140530173428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-34929548194906057752014-06-07T10:38:26.477+01:002014-06-07T10:38:26.477+01:00"B, maybe there is a difference in principle ..."B, maybe there is a difference in principle but not really in practice."<br /><br />I don't know: there's a huge psychological difference between something that you know that you are going to get out of one day and something that you know you are stuck in for life. Bayardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15211150959757982948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-8225936506390166662014-06-07T10:25:32.627+01:002014-06-07T10:25:32.627+01:00Mark,
Yes - that's what people do.
A more ex...Mark,<br /><br />Yes - that's what people do.<br /><br />A more extreme example is the problem with public sector jobs - they're often unique to the state and often performed in ways that aren't like the private sector.Tim Almondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13369256383976094670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-78020152115006031852014-06-07T09:46:27.225+01:002014-06-07T09:46:27.225+01:00TBH, yes, add it to the list.
TS, re 2, could he...TBH, yes, add it to the list. <br /><br />TS, re 2, could he not retrain a bit and do something else?<br /><br />B, maybe there is a difference in principle but not really in practice. <br /><br />PC, yes there was also an IT guy on the island whose suggestion is "Let's just put it down, walk away and then come back in a few minutes and see if it's opened itself". <br /><br />RT, that's why I said "<b>proverbial</b> rocket scientist and brain surgeons" just so it was clear I was not picking on any particular profession.Mark Wadsworthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07733511175178098449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-82839251132069530612014-06-07T06:53:15.066+01:002014-06-07T06:53:15.066+01:00That's funny because I was just thinking that ...That's funny because I was just thinking that the most useless person you could have on a desert island was an economist. A brain surgeon would at least have medical training, and would probably be intelligent and resourceful.<br /><br />Re: Israelites. This reminds me of The Matrix film, where the traitor hates being "free" because the life is so awful compared to the deluded state.<br /><br />Looking back on my life, I have avoided being too specialised because I have instinctively realised that I would peversely lose some freedom and become more dependent and restrained. In some ways the toilet scrubber is more free than the brain surgeon.<br /><br />In recent years I have relaxed this a bit though as I need to earn a better income.Rich Teehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14037296506942507747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-66332725116105594272014-06-06T21:09:35.460+01:002014-06-06T21:09:35.460+01:00Talking about specialisations and desert islands r...Talking about specialisations and desert islands reminded me of this joke: Heard the one about the physicist, the chemist, and the economist on a desert island?<br /><br />A physicist, a chemist, and an economist are stranded on a desert island. They're starving. And then a can of soup washes ashore. <br /><br />They have no way to open the can. So they put their brains to the problem. The physicist says "I calculate that we could drop it from the top of that tree over there until it will break open."<br />The chemist says "We could build a fire and sit the can in the flames until it bursts open."<br /><br />They argue a bit, until the economist says "No, no, no, you’d lose most of the soup. Let's just assume a can opener." <br /><br /><br />Regards the Israelite slavery. In the 'good book' there is a passage<br />where the ungrateful Israelites remember the fish they ate in Egypt free of charge, the cucumbers, the watermelons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.Whilst all they had in the desert was manna. Confounding the myth that slavery in Egypt was such a big deal. Three religions were created on the back of that.<br />Moses must have been the Nigel Farage of his day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-14746295084150478572014-06-06T20:33:38.173+01:002014-06-06T20:33:38.173+01:00I suppose the difference between "forced labo...I suppose the difference between "forced labour" and slavery is that the former is temporary and the latter is permanent. Also slaves are owned, body and soul, whereas the master of a forced labourer technically only owns his labour. <br /><br />In some ways, the forced labour of the Nazis was worse than slavery: the slave owner at least has an interest in keeping his slaves in good productive condition, just like any other machine.Bayardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15211150959757982948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-10648209563547562802014-06-06T12:00:38.367+01:002014-06-06T12:00:38.367+01:001. The adhesive for post-it notes was never design...1. The adhesive for post-it notes was never designed to do that. It was an accidental invention. Maybe they tweaked it and tested it, but I'm guessing not.<br /><br />2. Yes, absolutely. In reality there's sometimes a balance to be struck between generalisation and specialisation. A real world version of the "desert island" situation is when technology or government wipes out a job.<br /><br />I've met programmers who had a really obscure specialisation. One guy I know was writing assembler for small devices. He was paid a lot because those skills were rare. But then, the small devices got faster and companies moved away from assembler (it has higher maintenance costs) to higher level languages. His skills were then basically useless. It was like being dropped on a desert island.<br /><br />3. Yes. I don't know much about the communists, but what the nazis did was slavery. And a terrible form whose sole purpose was to extract as much production out of someone as possible until they were rapidly knackered, at which point, they would kill them. Tim Almondhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13369256383976094670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1141932539860553199.post-27252144012426392712014-06-06T10:40:42.277+01:002014-06-06T10:40:42.277+01:00On the salvery topic- what about conscription? For...On the salvery topic- what about conscription? Forced labour where the job involves getting bayonetted, shot, maimed, burnt or blown up- oh and killing other humans... ThomasBHallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08998362261169422976noreply@blogger.com