Things That Would Be Nice

Yup.

1. I said it there and I’ll say it here.

   York’s a prick for calling someone he never met a liar. The man wasn’t being treated the same as his coworkers and so he’s leaving for somewhere that’ll treat him equally. That’s called self respect and being a man.

   I read your blog all the time and except for the social conservative hysteria, I love it. I’m a Republican and an engineering major, and want to do defense related work, which Professor Carpick was doing. Do you know how much potential nanotechnology has for defense?

   He was my favorite professor, and I can assure you he’s no liar. It’s stupid of you to agree with York that he is one.

   Posted by on August 25, 2006 at 1123 hrs




2. So he is not a liar? That may be so, and he might be the greatest guy and a most immpressive instructor, but history has shown that those in the ivory tower have to work harder to prove that because of their reputation. I read your screed on the other blog and if he would have said that he was going to work for Yokel U in the Ozarks, take a pay cut, and work out of Cletus’ garage, but that he would be getting same sex benifits and that is the reason why he is leaving, I would believe him.

   Now before you go off thinking that I am calling him a liar, let me say that he is probably not lying in the true sense of the word. See from what I read, he did not say the ONLY reason why he is leaving is because of same sex benefits. Therein lies the key. It is politically beneficial for him to use his leaving to strike a blow for the cause because whether you know it or not, he will have to work with and possibly for a number of his fellows at UW-M again. He will also compete for grants with a number of them. He did them a favour and at some point in the future they will do one for him. I was a researcher for a time at a wisconsin university and I saw the same people at the same conferences, wrote the same grants against the same labs, and submitted papers against the same authors in the same journals for years. The community of researchers is actually quite small and eventually you will be on a first name basis with most members after a while.

   As for the equal treatment comment, those in the ivory tower have not been exposed to the reality of the world yet but it is coming for them. Most companies at this point do not openly offer insurance to spouses and none that I know of would offer them to a non married hetro couple though I concede they are still out there. This only really applies to non union but it will get them too. Usually a spouse will get what is known as secondary insurance from the spouse if they are both working. If not then they will have to pay a family rate. Before we were married, we lived together, raised her daughter from another marriage together and had separate insurance because neither of our employers would cover the other.
   
   Equal treatment is relative. I could claim that I am not getting equal treatment because I am paying for better benefits for public workers than I myself am enjoying. In reality there is no equal treatment. That is known as pure communism and it only exists in books. In reality there is competition and that creates an unequal playing field. If you and I worked in the same office, doing the same job, getting the same results we should get paid the same right? You would not believe the reaction I got when I told a group of retiring sailors and Chiefs a couple weeks ago that salary is not discussed outside the military at all and in some places that will get you fired. Why? because in the real world you are not equal to the guy next to you. You could even be better at your jobs and he might be taking home better pay and benefits than you. Not equal.

   Now the issue of his partner being forced to work at the school in the same dept as the prof. is suspect to the core. If this person is an aspiring chef then why and how did he get a job in the engineering dept of a major research school? I would say that that is not equal because that person is taking a job away from a grad student who could use the money, benefits, and experience to be a better engineer but I digress. This person did not want the job, but took it so that he too could enjoy better benefits than I on my dime. I am sure he did not work 100 hours a week so he could have easily worked in his chosen profession to acquire the experience and finances to support himself and his medical bills on top of the hours spent at the lab. I and many others have done this throughout history. That is how you move up. Instead he chose to make it a mission, a cause as it were.

   While I have no issue at all with what this person wants and would support the right of any enterprise offering all the benefits they see fit to extend to attract good employees, the public sector is at the tail end of a new movement. We are seeing extraordinary salaries, incredible benefits, and lavish working environments and we are comparing them to our own plight in life. We in the private sector pay more and more and have less and less to show for it. When I was in R/D the question of how long empirical research would be allowed to continue was bounced around. I left the field when I could no longer do it. Could I say that that is why I left? Yes, but that would have only been partially true. I also could make more money and have more control in my own company. I have started and sold many companies since then and now I work for a large corporation, why? Because of the stability. Is that the only reason? No but it would be true none the less.

   Posted by fishaddict on August 25, 2006 at 1505 hrs