Government Plots and Other Stuff 3/5/2013

The Verge - How to Tell Whats Popular

Short Answer if I am interested in it it's not.  Longer answer Microsoft has a new meme tracking tool.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/4/4064340/microsoft-viralsearch-tracking-twitter-trends

Slashdot - Facebook Spam Backlash Effecting British Columbia Elections

Apparently even Canadians hate Facebook spam, still doesn't explain that weird bacon though.

http://politics.slashdot.org/story/13/03/05/1334213/shooting-yourself-in-the-foot-21st-century-style

Slashdot - God Oracle Just Shoot Yourself Already!  Another Emergency Java Patch For Another Set of Vulnerabilities.  

Once again the vulnerabilities allow an attacker to break the sandboxing to remotely execute malacious code.

http://developers.slashdot.org/story/13/03/04/2320253/oracle-rushes-emergency-java-update-to-patch-mcrat-vulnerabilities

Every other country in the world to the US - "Maybe H1Bs really aren't the best and brightest" 

The assertion that the foreign graduates offer superior skills or ability relative to U.S. graduates is found not to be supported by the data:

• On a variety of measures, the former foreign students have talent lesser than, or equal to, their American peers.

• Skilled-foreign-worker programs are causing an internal brain drain in the United States.

Oh and the shortage of engineers, mathematicians, etc. and the growing number of useless MBAs and Lawyers - GOVERNMENT PLOT

The H-1B-caused internal brain drain was actually anticipated, if not actually planned, in the government’s central science agency back in 1989. The Policy Research and Analysis (PRA) division of the National Science Foundation (NSF) complained that Ph.D. salaries were too high. In an unpublished report, PRA proposed a remedy in the form of importing a large number of foreign students, stating:

These salary data show that real Ph.D.-level pay began to rise after 1982, moving from $52,000 to $64,000 in 1987 (measured in 1984 dollars). One set of salary projections show that real pay will reach $75,000 in 1996 and approach $100,000 shortly beyond the year 2000. …

[To] the extent that increases in foreign student enrollments in doctoral programs decline or turn negative for reasons other than state or national policies it may be in the national interest to actively encourage foreign students. …

A growing influx of foreign Ph.D.s into U.S. labor markets will hold down the level of Ph.D. salaries. …[The Americans] will select alternative career paths…by choosing to acquire a “professional” degree in business or law, or by switching into management as rapidly as possible after gaining employment in private industry…[as] the effective premium for acquiring a Ph.D. may actually be negative. (Weinstein 1998; emphasis added)

I gave the paper a quick read this morning.  Interesting but dense.  It will require another more in-depth read later.  Since the H1B program is up for expansion I would recommend reading it and then contacting your Senators and Representative if you feel it is appropriate.

http://www.epi.org/publication/bp356-foreign-students-best-brightest-immigration-policy/

Gawker- The Definitive (?) Aaron Swartz Reading List

http://gawker.com/5988392/which-long-magazine-profiles-of-aaron-swartz-should-you-bother-to-read

OK that's basically it for today.