Unemployment

it depends on the field, i.e. on what the think tank does. so, basically anything.

thought so

  playbynumbers said:

i also wondered, before working here.

 

basically, it varies. some think tanks, like mine, get contracts from the government (in our case, usually DHS or the Pentagon) which say something like --- "we'll pay your analysts $500,000 to figure out how to solve this issue with border security; give us a report in six months." it's the sort of thing where i wish there were think tanks for philosophy, like that some rich benefactor would give me thousands of dollars to give him a paper on Hegel.

 

anyway, there are various smart people working at think tanks (usually ph.d's or retired military) who are paid to think about problems that they have expertise in, and give these solutions to the government. one might ask; why wouldn't the government just use its own people? and the idea is that you want an unbiased third party.

 

there are other think tanks, which are usually the ones you hear about in news articles, that consist of political hacks that write white papers and reports that try to 'argue' for partisan talking points. the best example here would be AEI, the home of bill kristol, former home of dick cheney, etc. these are funded by extremely rich billionaires, usually. (there are also a couple serious policy think tanks, like cato and CAP, but that's rare.)

Oh that makes a little more sense to me now. Thanks dude

I'm Unemployed

anyone here have any experience being an extra?

i don't want to be an actor or anything but it seems easy to get work being an extra. i know someone who got 40 euro the other day, for sitting there drinking low alcohol beer, which is what i got for washing windows 7am-5pm.

i have some friends who've done it. it can be really easy or suck awful balls and i think it tends towards the latter. in the US a 10-hr day is quite short, though there are overtime policies.

  tauboo said:

anyone here have any experience being an extra?

 

i don't want to be an actor or anything but it seems easy to get work being an extra. i know someone who got 40 euro the other day, for sitting there drinking low alcohol beer, which is what i got for washing windows 7am-5pm.

No, but I could easily play 'fat drunk guy'. I wonder how you go about doing it? Surely you don't have to learn to act!?

  tauboo said:

anyone here have any experience being an extra?

 

i don't want to be an actor or anything but it seems easy to get work being an extra. i know someone who got 40 euro the other day, for sitting there drinking low alcohol beer, which is what i got for washing windows 7am-5pm.

Yeah. There are plenty of companies who will find you extra work. You could make up to 200 in a day for standing around.

Technically unemployed, but technically employed by a temp agency.

Just finished university, found out my degree in English Literature and Film Studies is currently completely useless so am returning to London to probably sign on. Happy days.

A message to Idiron and Iain C: I shall be returning from the West Country wearing a viking helmet on a wave of hysteria and vengeance ready to reclaim my city from your filthy paws, prepare yourself!

  tronicphace said:

  lumpenprol said:

by landed you mean "pushed a button and waited for a response" right?

 

yeah, most people don't realize that depending on the rotation of the planets (about their own axes and around the sun), there can be a telemetry delay anywhere from ~15 to 30 minute delay (called one way light time OWLT) before you even know what happened out there. It had landed approx 20 minutes before we even got the telemetry to confirm...

 

lol...one person I told thought that I was an astronaut that was physically in a spaceship that went to Mars

 

I was like "ummmmmm..no"

Speaking of Mars, I'm doing a project at the moment (I'm in landscape architecture) with the Canadian Space Agency, it's a Mars emulation zone for their own robot testing. It's pretty kick arse!

  Babar said:

  tronicphace said:

Working at a bank in New York doing an MBA internship. Getting $90k annualized, and they'll bump it to $95k if they give me a full-time offer. Made ~$80k when I was landing things on Mars.

 

woaw. that's what my dad earn ,and he's in his fifties(he's a telecom engineer). But that's what he get after having paid his contribution to the social insurance & pension (compulsory things, here in France). So how much do you really get ?

Yeah, those figures are gross, before Uncle Sam gets his share. My effective tax rate is usually less than 10%, though, because I have a lot of deductions (kids, etc.)

  playbynumbers said:

i have a very stable job at a DC-area think tank, as an editor, which pays awfully well; we've received various contracts from Obama's largesse, and so i should be good for a few years. i'm also working on my dissertation, but the academic job market isn't looking so great, so i might wait an extra couple years ...

I know someone you may be interested in meeting. He's a speechwriter for Clinton and has also written speeches for Obama and Biden. Undergrad in Political Economics at Yale, JD/PhD from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. He's my age (~30). PM me if interested.

  Philip Glass said:

Speaking of Mars, I'm doing a project at the moment (I'm in landscape architecture) with the Canadian Space Agency, it's a Mars emulation zone for their own robot testing. It's pretty kick arse!

very kewl!

  tec said:

Just finished university, found out my degree in English Literature and Film Studies is currently completely useless so am returning to London to probably sign on. Happy days.

 

A message to Idiron and Iain C: I shall be returning from the West Country wearing a viking helmet on a wave of hysteria and vengeance ready to reclaim my city from your filthy paws, prepare yourself!

It's about time we went for a drink

Looking forward to it!

self-employed as a subcontractor for a few Psych clinics and owner/director of an exposure therapy company specializing in post-MVA rehabilitation.

i just realized yesterday that Ive SAVED 60 grand in the last 12 months. lol.

you should really consider buying a $60K TV

And auctioning it here at watmm at a greatly reduced price, as a friend of the community.

im saving to buy WATMM and then shut it down forever as a messageboard, leaving only a bare site with pictures of essiness and kaen photoshopped to be nude

  Franklin said:

im saving to buy WATMM and then shut it down forever as a messageboard, leaving only a bare site with pictures of essiness and kaen photoshopped to be nude

I would love to see this.

I'm seeing about being a bike messenger for a while. Anyone have experience with that?

  Franklin said:

i just realized yesterday that Ive SAVED 60 grand in the last 12 months. lol.

Same here. And that's despite the large hooker drain on my take home pay. The idea of quitting and just doing nothing for a year is so tempting...

do you not pay rent or something? or are you just making sick money?

we live very frugal lives basically... and I have been making sick money.

never know how long it will last though.

I don't make sick money compared to what I could be making...but I live in China. Really if you're an ambitious young person living in the states depressed over a lack of options, you should just move to China. There aren't necessarily a lot more opportunities (unless you're fluently bilingual) but you'll have more fun and your money will go farther. Also ideal if you have any degree of yellow fever.

2 jobs one steady. Over 50k last year but I was screwed at my real job this year and will miss out in 10k in bonuses plus promised salary increase this year but am veryvery fortunate. * knocks on wood* because it's a house of cards.

  KY said:

what kind of grad work?

international relations/foreign service. i started out thinking i'd just do a government degree because my b.a. is in political science but my ex gf's dad, who is a professor, persuaded me to do what i'm doing now.

i get a small grant to do research for my master's degree and then i also have a shitload of financial aid coming in because the school i attend is not something i can actually afford to be attending. and then school hooked me up with a job. got real lucky.