What's on your mind?

[Adorno]

Yes. I was just naming some important players in the shaping of the economy. I don't have a full political program for you
(The EU also has worker representation but they sadly have little influence).

 

[NPC99]

100% wrong. This idea of the 'ethical' or 'conscious' consumer arose sometime around the 1980's (and beame very manifest in the 1990's). Consumers can't regulate anything. They're not a well informed, organised group of people, and they have the memory of a hamster. Try and remember big boycotts of days of yore, like against Nike (with their child labour): nothing happened. Nike is still a huge, well functioning company. Or look a the crimes of facebook making more money than ever.
But putting the responsibility on the consumer to (ethically) regulate the market conveniently removes some of that responsibility from the politicians, organisations and other actors who actually regulate the market.
Politicians, the EU, WTO, IMF etc. is where the work lies.

I said few of us look. However, some campaigns have long term effects. When was the last time you bought an egg laid by a battery chicken as opposed to a free range egg? Would you buy your wife/girlfriend/partner furs?

 

[eddiemccandless]

I bet "human resources" would become a non-PC phrase at some point for exactly that reason, while the reality behind it would stay the same.

Also, how do you propose to disentangle the financial industry ethics of fear and greed from the public companies' imperatives (which are ROI and stock price growth despite platitudes in mission statements)?

I think it's a cultural problem in the US and I don't really have a solution to that. In Italy it is not quite there yet, although we are doing our best to learn the worst habits from Americans. I do personally know a very successful entrepreneur in center Italy who is ridiculously loaded, but also takes genuine pride in his craft and wouldn't compromise on quality even if it promised better profits. He also takes pride in taking care of his employees, who he sees as his people. This started out as a family business and is now what one would consider a medium sized enterprise. I guess that once you grow really big it is difficult to not devolve into a greedy ******* company.

So, clearly, the only solution is to pass a law forbidding companies from having more than 100 employees. That should do the trick.

 

[NPC99]

So, clearly, the only solution is to pass a law forbidding companies from having more than 100 employees. That should do the trick.

The rest will just be sub-contractors without pensions, holiday pay, sickness benefits or hot desks.

 

[eddiemccandless]

The rest will just be sub-contractors without pensions, holiday pay, sickness benefits or hot desks.

Well that's an easy fix too, just outlaw subcontractors as well!

 

[NPC99]

Well that's an easy fix too, just outlaw subcontractors as well!

Good call. In Italy all the sub-contractors can work for the Mafia.

 

[eddiemccandless]

Good call. In Italy all the sub-contractors can work for the Mafia.

Fine then, outlaw the Mafia too!... Oh.

 

[Calradianın bilgesi]

Mom and dad seem to have won Greencards. They didn't literally win it yet, but they were selected in the lottery and the interview doesn't seem to be selective at all if the random internet people are to be trusted

They returned from their exploratory trip to the States. They made up their mind now, my dad will go before the spring and become a lorry driver. My mum and sister will settle in a suburb of Chicago in the summer. My dad insists on getting me an entrepreneur visa by founding a company in the States and making us all work in a family business. I don't know what to do yet.

 

[DanAngleland]

Your business could be loaning out your father to act as a father figure to expat Turks who miss their father. I can't write the rest of the business plan, you've got to stand on your own two feet sooner or later.

I advise your mother and sister to shoot someone as soon as possible; from what I understand this will help them fit in. Having said that, I know little of Chicago other than it was fun to drive around in Midtown Madness, and that Frank Sinatra was fond of it.

I wish you and your family good luck!

 

[Calradianın bilgesi]

Thank you DanAngleland, you are a star. I really admire your warmth and kindness, and strive to be more like you.

 

[Ser Jon]

The rest will just be sub-contractors without pensions, holiday pay, sickness benefits or hot desks.

That sounds like a piece of a future Jeff Bezos would like.

 

[Calradianın bilgesi]

I want to get my mother to therapy. I suspect she might benefit it, and after trying to get her to start exercising a few times it feels like it'll be easier to get her visit a therapy session than to get her to exercise or eat well. Especially considering that I live in another city. I have no idea how to choose a psychologist, and I have no idea how I can open up the topic and convince her. Any ideas?

 

[Mad Vader]

Scare her into doing it by showcasing alarming cases of diabetes and high blood pressure. Talking to old people rarely changes their minds.

 

[Arvenski]

My mom's computer just up and died this evening. It's a desktop she's had for 10 years or more, so it doesn't surprise me that it's having issues, but this issue is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Sometimes the tower will turn on and the fans will run for maybe 30 seconds, but the screen never lights up or shows that the computer is doing anything, and then the tower will shut off. Other times you'll press the power button and the CPU fan will run for maybe 1 second before everything shuts off again. At first I was afraid a major component had died, but now after a little reading I'm wondering if the CMOS battery has died. Does that sound right? I might order a new battery tonight anyway, it seems worth a try. I don't know how much else can be done on a 10+ year old prebuilt HP desktop that might've been cheap to begin with.

 

[Adorno]

Good idea to try the battery.
What about the power supply? That´s often the issue when a PC won´t start or has trouble doing it. They don´t cost much so it´s worth a try.

 

[Arvenski]

Thinking about replacing the CMOS battery stirred some vague memories of doing that once (or twice?) before on PCs here, so I looked around and found a new battery in a drawer, but it made no difference. I'm flummoxed. I am suspicious of the power supply, but I'd have to find one that fit in the case. It's an odd-sized, narrow little case. I'll have to look into it later tonight or tomorrow.

 

[Mad Vader]

I had a problem diagnosing a computer that wouldn't boot up at all a couple of years ago. After eliminating the power supply as a problem (which WAS the problem the last time it wouldn't boot, because it fried spectacularly), it was clear it was the motherboard (processor pins probably), so I got a new one, because it was overdue for upgrade anyway. Unfortunately it still wouldn't boot up, because apparently the CMOS battery on the new motherboard came a bit loose and needed to be pressed firmly in position.
However your problem looks different because you get activity on boot.
I have lost days and sanity figuring out my problems. You are better off getting a qualified repairman diagnose it (this shouldn't be costly) and then decide whether to do something about it. These guys have all the extra components and simply replace them until they find what doesn't work.
You could try to do the same if you have another working computer to cannibalize or working components lying around, starting with power supply. Just be careful with grounding and isolation, or you'll fry the motherboard with static discharge or fry yourself sticking things into the power supply.

 

[Grank]

Sometimes the tower will turn on and the fans will run for maybe 30 seconds, but the screen never lights up or shows that the computer is doing anything, and then the tower will shut off. Other times you'll press the power button and the CPU fan will run for maybe 1 second before everything shuts off again.

Have you tried cleaning the RAM? Gently rub the golden bit with an eraser. From my experience this kind of problem happens quite often, especially to old PCs that haven't been turned on for a long time, or just got reassembled. It's a free fix so I reckon it'd be worth a try. Don't give up after cleaning it once. It often takes a few rubbing to be properly clean.

Any "beep" sound you might get can be helpful too. I haven't had a PC for almost a decade, but I know that older models have beep codes when they have hardware problems. You can look up the specific codes for your series on the Internet.

 

[Arvenski]

I haven't heard any unusual beeps. In fact, I'm not sure if it's beeped at all. I did however notice that it will, at least sometimes, turn on when the power strip is turned on. In other words, it turns on as soon as it gets power from the wall, without me pushing the power button on the tower. I thought that was a little alarming. I'm still suspicious of the PSU, but I talked it over with a guy I know, and he said if the power supply was bad it wouldn't turn on, so he suspected the motherboard or the CPU. I'd already decided that if it was the motherboard or the CPU I wasn't going to try to fix it, because that means taking most everything out and rebuilding it and that just doesn't seem worth it on a 13 year-old machine that's really only meant to run web browsers. And mom wants a laptop or a tablet anyway, so, for now we're leaning towards buying a new machine.

 

[eddiemccandless]

Buying a new one seems like a good call, unless you want to figure out the issue for your own enjoyment. What you are describing could be caused by anything between power supply issues, bad components or just bad connections between them.