On Hiatus Until Further Notice...

There will be few if any postings for a week or so while we go here for a little R&R ->



Brownie points to all (except Gary) who know where this is...

(Click images for fun/sun sized view)

The Real H-1B Visa System...

From BusinessWeek: Outsourcing: How to Skirt the Law
June 22, 2007, 12:01AM EST

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...Want to hire cheaper foreign workers instead of Americans? A lawyer tells you how to game the immigration system—and it's all on YouTube"

"...It's a group of lawyers openly discussing strategies for helping their clients pretend that they're trying to recruit American workers—as required by law—while they, in fact, hire cheaper foreign workers...

"[O]ur goal is clearly not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker," ... The trick, according to Cohen & Grigsby attorneys, is to only go through the motions of hiring Americans without ever intending to.
..."

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Click the link at the top of this entry to read the entire article.


The practice described in this "training video" isn't top secret. Any engineer in the industry knows how this is done. It's obvious, blatant and common practice.

To hear anyone on the inside actually talk about it in public and allow it to be taped IS amazing.

The only thing driving this flawed H-1B system is money. So how should this flagrant abuse be fixed?

Since the single motive here is money, specifically the disparity in the amount of money required to employ and keep a U.S. hire .vs. an H-1B, the solution is simple.

Eliminate the cost disparity.

Either US workers will have to be willing to work the job at the same wage as H-1B's and also work for reduced company paid benefit packages to equalize the cost of using an H-1B hire.

--or--

The government increases the cost of using an H-1B hire to nullify the cost differential.

Let's have the government eliminate the yearly call for increasing the H-1B quota, charge $1m for each H-1B visa granted and charge a yearly fee of $100k to keep it.

I predict that companies would suddenly find lots and lots of "qualified" U.S. engineers.

This would be a win/win/win solution. More U.S. workers have jobs, the companies that still need imported workers could hire as many H-1B's as they could afford and the government gets a new income source to help offset the budget deficit.

Anyone else have a better idea? Use the comments section and if I see a better solution, I'll append it here.

(I wonder if "Carbon Life Form Offset Credits" would work in this situation? Quick, get Al on the phone!...)

Substitute Teacher - WHY?

I'm convinced that one, more or all of these people HAVE been or ARE substitute teachers.

Final Tally: 2006-2007

Days teaching at specific grade level this year:

K: 2
G1: 4
G2: 4
G3: 5
G4: 15
G5: 32
G6: 23

Total Sub Days for the just completed 2006-07 School Year: 85 days

Since I started subbing Sept/2004, I have a total of 230 days.

Japanese speed drills...

Possible gamers approach to piano instruction? I wonder if it could be adapted to classroom math speed drills...

Importance of Spiel Checkers

The importance of spiel checkers and proof reding. Injoy!...

Thank You …

I have on occasion left the windows down in the car parked in the driveway or have forgotten to close the garage door over night without things being missing the next day.

Not so this time.

To the guy (or guys) who visited my garage sometime in the wee hours of Saturday morning to “borrow” my air compressor, rolling tool box and power tools:

Thank You!

Thanks for not taking either car parked in the garage. (I suppose you might have thought about it if I had left the keys on the seat.)

Thanks for not trashing the rest of the garage just for the hell of it.

Thanks for taking care to not damage either car while rolling my tool box between the cars.

Thanks for reminding me that I need to be more vigilant about locking up at night.

If you do grow out of this phase of your life and become an upstanding citizen, maybe you’ll apply for a teaching position, a job that requires a security clearance or something else that requires a background security check.

The police think they got a few good prints from a second tool box you looked into but didn’t take so maybe someday I can “thank you” in person.

I certainly hope so…

Amazing Amateur Nature Video...

I carry some PBS Nature type videos in my substitute teacher kit for those "just in case" situations when the lesson plan comes up a little short to fill the available class time.

The ones I pick tend to be entertaining insect, plant life and bird behavior type stuff while avoiding any of the more sensational large animal on animal predation action like this one appears to be:

(Don't worry, it comes out ok...in THIS one)

Julie Amero Is Getting a "Do-Over"..

"...Julie Amero is a former Kelly Middle School substitute teacher who, as of June 6th, 2007, has been granted a new trial. After her initial trial, Amero was convicted on January 5th, 2007 in Norwich, Connecticut superior court of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child."

From Wikipedia, the free eneyelopedia: Julie Amero

So instead of backing down in the face of common sense and overwhelming expert evidence to the contrary, we're going to have a "Do-Over" trial.

I hope Julie counter sues for court costs and damages...

End of Year Lesson Plans …

Substitute teaching the last couple weeks involves less and less actual book work. Instead we have lots more busy worksheets, videos and extended unstructured PE…another word for recess for almost two hours.

This last week we also have:

• Square dancing (4^th graders)
• Seat moving day (5^th graders)…WHY with just two weeks left?
• Timed Sudoku for prizes (6^th graders)
• We have movies, lots and lots of movies