Archives for July 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/opinion/13mon1.html

A recent issue that has come up which reflects past issues is the inaccuracy of the FBI and Congress in hiring port workers.  Congress has required the FBI to do background checks on all port workers or people wishing to be hired as port workers.  The background checks are to prevent people from having the jobs who may have records with acts related to terrorism.  But this plan has not been carried through successfully, and has caused an estimated 10,000 people to not be granted port jobs that they were qualified for.

This is a big issue contributing to a big loss of jobs, because the federal government struggles to be up to date with their criminal records.  Several specific cases have been shown where people have lost their jobs because of minor offenses that have nothing to do with terrorism, or charges made against someone that were dropped.  A specific case was brought up in a New York Times article that said, “A Philadelphia steamship clerk with 12 years’ experience is said to have lost his job, his car and was on the verge of eviction because federal records failed to show that charges against him had been dropped.”

This problem has existed for a while, and people have continued to suffer because of inaccurate criminal records.  A report from the United States attorney general said that half of FBI criminal records are out of date or inaccurate.  Too many people in need of a job have had to pay for the mistakes of the federal government, and a clear solution to this problem exists. 

The New York Times article being referenced makes a great point that Congress should force the FBI to move quicker in updating their criminal records, and not have thousands of people waiting for months to have their job.  In our current economy, there is a clear way for Congress to give people more jobs, and they should take advantage of that opportunity to help many unemployed citizens seeking work.

I realized that when it comes to bad publicity, Disney is more than likely to either drop an actor/actress who’s in the news, or ask for an immediate apology. Some examples of this are: Miley Cyrus and the barely nude photos that were taken of her; Vanessa Hudgens’s nude photos that were leaked to the public (but not by her); and Hillary Duff, whose Disney show was discontinued and who took a leave of absence from Disney after rumors started to spread about her becoming belimic.While Nickelodeon/The N kept on a lot of their star ie Jamie Lynn spears

“Too quick tojudge, too slow to admit you’re wrong; makes for a good cop, but a bad humanbeing. You can apologize today, but you’ll be the same rat bastard tomorrow.“

– Detective MunchTutuola (Ice-T)

  Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

“Hating:is the act of talking about someone in a negative connotation FOR NOAPPARENT REASON or motive”

-Abi, of Girls are the New Boys Blog

“Turn tragedyinto triumph.“

– Kanye West (Yeezy)

“Become a doctor or a lawyer.”

It seems for the past century, those two career choices were strongly advocated by parents for their children to pursue. Recently, I’ve come to notice another occupation that seems to join medicine and law in their rank: pharmacy.

In Chinese the term “pharmacy” translates into “drug study,” which for the most part is accurate. Most notably, pharmacists dispense prescription drugs, but their line of work is extensive. A typical day might include advising physicians and patients in regards to selection, dosage and the side effects of drugs.

To become a pharmacist one must attain a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, known as a Pharm.D. This usually means four years of some pharmacy program and at least two of general science (biology, chemistry and physics). In regards to careers, pharmacy is the shortest way to get a standing in medicine next to nursing (which is two years).

On average a pharmacist will make about $95K a year. Not bad for six years of school.

Lately, it seems most of my parents’ friends’ children have pursued or will pursue pharmacy as an alternative to becoming a doctor or a lawyer. The pay is good and the number of years in school are drastically shorter. So why wouldn’t one want to become a pharmacist?

Call me paranoid but I don’t want to enter a trade that might be taken over by robots in the future. There is a known trend: efficiency comes with a cost. As technology advances, there will be an increase in lay offs. Companies will reduce costs by firing workers. Why pay a worker $9 an hour for what a computer or program could do in five minutes?

The field of pharmacy is nothing more than all the information and knowledge about drugs and their effects on the human body, being studied and put into a walking breathing reference: a pharmacist. Notice how there is no occupation called “Mr. Dictionary.” Jobs and careers that require knowledge and nothing else can easily be taken by machines.

Imagine in ten years, you just consulted a doctor (he too has been increasingly regulated: “how can I help you? where does it hurt?, when did this start? take some antibiotics and come back if it does not get better”) and he prescribed some pills. You then take the prescription to a pharmacy, but instead of a teller, there is simply a slot for your prescription and one for your medical card. You insert both. In five minutes a sealed bottle is dispensed and an automated voice tells you to have a nice day. Simple. Efficient. Less costly than to pay a pharmacist to take your orders. Also, a lot less personal. (Nobody needs to know you just got another fungal infection and need a refill of last month’s antibiotics.)

Recent studies show that the field of pharmacy has grown exponentially. I’m not convinced. I’m actually nervous because when the world finds a way to automate the dispensing of prescription drugs, the economy will once again hit a decline as all those graduates with six-year degrees find they’ve mastered a fruitless trade.

Uh oh for everybody.

    In the U.S, there are people getting laid off because of the recession and it’s very hard to find a new job. In Japan there is also a recession, and there are jobs being lost but not for humans. Here’s an article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/technology/13robot.html?_r=1&hp, which states that robots that we would find useful in the U.S are being laid off from work in Japan. I think this is really fascinating because people around the world would love to have a robot to work for them and play with them, but these guys in Japan are laying off robots and trying to get rid of them. These robots are not ordinary robots we see; they have many talents such as dish washing and making cars. This is very strange because you don’t pay robots to do work — all you have to do is supply them with electrical power so that they can work, and I believe that is a lot cheaper thank having actual human workers.