There was a one-shot spinoff/alternate version of the X-Men comic book called Codename: X-Men that featured a variety of mutant miscreants being gathered for a mission rather than rotting in prison. In that world, Iceman used a squirt gun that he would turn into a lethal weapon, freezing blasts mid-flight. The leader of their organization was a dark fellow named "Colonel America". When asked about who he was and his relationship to Cap, he replied, "I'm who Captain America will be in a few years if he salutes all the right people and keeps clean," or something akin to that. He also had no remorse torturing and harming the X-Men as was. Kind of like today's America.
I worked for a beef and pork producer with several slaughterhouses throughout the country. These facilities were mainly designed in the 1960s and did not come equipped with things like server rooms. When the technology got to the point that they had to find ways of getting computers into the plant to automate things, they had to find the most creative ways possible of putting computers into these houses of death. Here are the most creative setups I remember:
-One computer room in a pork plant had its air intake on the roof... right next to the exhaust from the rendering exhaust. Now, while the smell itself was awful, the worst part was that the sulphur and other noxious chemicals would eat the computers alive. The IT group had to install a special device that monitored the decay levels of samples of metals such as copper, silver, and gold to see how long the machines would last.
-One computer room was made out of a new office on the third floor of one plant. But there were no elevators to get the hardware up into the room. So they cut a hole in the floor, used a gigantic crane, and lifted two guys with each fully-populated rack up to the room. And the crane was still three inches short, so the two guys would have to do a wheelie with 1000+ lbs. of equipment to get it in the room.
-The same plant with the hole in the floor was also keen on bringing in electricians who were severely brain damaged. How bad? Imagine a 110V cord strung across the air with no support. And the other end of the cord with the three prongs was "hot". And someone once plugged it into the wall socket. I hear it doubles as a cattle prod now.
-Two computer rooms needed air conditioning, so they simply carved holes in the walls and hung out Wal-Mart brand home air conditioners. With no other insulation. In the winter sometimes frost appeared on the machines.
-Many of the computer functions were relegated to plant employees with their own unique vocabulary. I had the privilege of speaking with one woman in Texas who sounded exactly like Boomhauer on "King of The Hill." Honest. Another one always tried one-upping the "smart" IT guys back at corporate. On one occasion, she said that her monitor was "tricating". This was the word she used to mean that the emulation was off. I informed her that there is no such word as "tricating," at which point she told me that since I was young I likely hadn't heard of that word before. Funny, neither had Merriam-Webster.
In the 1980s, I remember seeing in Boys Life magazine, the publication for Boy Scouts, that they were offering a "Donor Awareness" patch that would go on the chest pocket of the uniform, which is the spot usually reserved for various summer camp logos or other incidental merits. This patch required the scout having a conversation with his parents, and then sending in a form that said something along the lines of, "I have talked with Mommy and Daddy about who will get my kidneys when I die," plus shipping and handling. The badge looked pretty fruity overall, too. I imagine that this is what the "Anti-Piracy" patch would replace. Both merit badges and belt loops (remember those?) had sets of goals that had to be attained across several disciplines. This sounds like a one-step patch, and not a badge.
Slightly OT, I know, but I just had to share. While in Japan for my honeymoon, I was often up at odd hours while my wife was sleeping because of the time change. I turned onto one comedy show that seemed like a cross between Jackass and MAD TV. They had a segment called, "No Reaction Theatre," where people had to continue acting while various distractions tried to draw their attention. In this case, people above them on the scaffolding would drop large aluminum foil cookpans onto their heads. It didn't hurt so much as cause a loud noise and throw them off. So they would be in the middle of this soap-opera-esque moment lamenting why someone died, with tears in their eyes, looking up, and then WHAM! Baking pan in the face! The show culminated with about 100 pans being dropped onto a group funeral scene over and over again.
They are geniuses. American TV could learn something from them.
Some Real Research
on
IT and Divorce?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm writing a book right now and one of the topics upon which I touch is how the divorce rate is higher amongst executive managers. In the research I did, I looked at the executive biographies for the CEOs of the top 50 of the Fortune 500. Out of these 50 bosses, only 6 of them mentioned their families in any way, shape, or form. They are more proud of their MBAs than they are about having a loving wife or children. Steve Ballmer's mentions that he is a really funny guy, but leaves out any traces of personal relationships.
Think about wanting to be a manager with that in mind.
This guy could easily have a case under Title 18, USC, Section 242. I encourage everyone to memorize this piece of legislature should you ever encounter an unlawful situation such as this. It applies to anyone acting with the authority of the government, from law enforcement to security screeners to teachers. The following comes from the FBI Civil Rights web page.
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242
Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law
This statute makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to willfully deprive or cause to be deprived from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S.
This law further prohibits a person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to willfully subject or cause to be subjected any person to different punishments, pains, or penalties, than those prescribed for punishment of citizens on account of such person being an alien or by reason of his/her color or race.
Acts under "color of any law" include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the bounds or limits of their lawful authority, but also acts done without and beyond the bounds of their lawful authority; provided that, in order for unlawful acts of any official to be done under "color of any law," the unlawful acts must be done while such official is purporting or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. This definition includes, in addition to law enforcement officials, individuals such as Mayors, Council persons, Judges, Nursing Home Proprietors, Security Guards, etc., persons who are bound by laws, statutes ordinances, or customs.
Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and if bodily injury results or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined or imprisoned up to ten years or both, and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
Do not worry, my shadowy brethren. We have less than three months to wait for our day, The International Day of The Ninja! Personally speaking, that day is my wife's birthday, so I combine the two and surprise her with presents falling from rafters, cakes adorned with shurikens, and freak out a lot.
I'm sorry, but I went ahead and looked at The Randomizer, and saw the following. Here we have someone with a deaf dog who has interests in the Harlem Globetrotters, the human endocrine system, and a branch of civil services (?) in the Iberian Peninsula. I swear, this tool is the next big funny thing around:
The real reason they were arrested was because Uncle Sam was unable to tax them. Think about it. Americans are spending $4.5 billion per year towards online gambling sites like these that are located overseas. The government would like a slice of that pie, but they are unable to tax that revenue because the foreign companies don't fall under the jurisdiction of the IRS. Consequently, Congress brings up a whole bunch of warnings and laws about being unable to gamble online. And what better way to cut it off than to arrest CEOs who step foot on American soil?
The real reason for these alerts is to keep people as scared as possible. A building blew up in New York two days ago? Must be scary terrorists. Your flight was delayed? Be scared--it may be terrorists. Flat Coca-Cola, small puppies getting kicked, and cable rates being raised? Be terrified, because these were likely caused by terrorists.
The truth is that these events will continue during the 2006 elections and we should start seeing a few Orange Alerts or even a planned attack here in the next several months. No, wait, I got it. There will be an attack immediately followed by news of Osama bin Laden's death. Yeah, that will do it.
While weeding out your worst is always a best practice, the way Jack Welsh did it was moronic. Through his "differentiation" he would always slash the bottom 10% of his workers. Here's the catch: what if that 10% was better than the people who will replace them? What if they performed well?
Suppose your workers' performance is in the 90th, 85th, and 80th percentiles for performance. In grade school, that would be a solid B-average workforce. Now the bottom gets slashed, knocking out all of the 80th percentile people. Who replaces them? If the workers' performance followed a Bell curve, the next percentage should be at 50%. Congratulations, you have just shot yourself in the foot.
Jack Welsh was another hardass CEO interested in his own self-interest and full of ego. That's the fact.
So far, one Slashdotter thinks she is pissed. Another thinks she is sad. This is awesome. Somewhere in the world, there is a woman whose facial expressions are so abstract that no one can determine what she is thinking. Could you imagine the photographer snapping her pics? "Now I want you to look sad, like you are looking into the distance for a lost love... no, that looks like you are constipated.... no, that looks like you are confused...." Meanwhile, she has not changed a single muscle in her face.
How does this qualify as fraud? If I have a day job with Company A and form my own LLC as Company B that sells product to A, isn't that perfectly fine? I could see it qualifying as a "conflict of interest" by A's standards, but otherwise I see it as a regular business transaction. I mean, I have seen tons of companies set up so that the same person manages one business that owns some piece of land on which his other business, an accounting firm, pays rent back to the first, and those transactions seem legal.
In the example given, there was some interaction with working for and selling to the government, which I could see as illegal, but in all other cases with private organizations, I would say that things are fine. Does anyone have any details on the legality of this action?
Well, there are several problems with this concept of the "minimum miss distance" that bug me analytically:
1. The current nominal miss distance is 33LD, with a mimium miss distance of.04LD. When two estimates are so darn far apart, it makes it difficult to have any faith in their estimations. It's like saying, "between 4 and 33 million people will die of the bird flu". Some of the larger parts have been calculated more accurately, but this one has not been updated in over a week.
2. The nominal miss distance is calculated on a two-body system (comet and sun) that does not accomodate for the earth's gravity, as I understand it. Furthermore, the distance is from the center of mass of the two objects, which when you add the radius of the earth, drops the distance to just over 5,000 miles. This leads into the next problem...
3. The Roche limit for the earth is 11470 miles. That is the point at which tidal forces would tear an object apart. That would mean that the 5,000 mile estimate would put this thing in a place where it could be further fractured.
So, with all that in mind, plus the fact that there may be hundred of more chunnks of comet that no one has seen yet, plus several asteroids that will be passing within 6LD around the same time, makes me raise an eyebrow.
It amazes me that no one has picked up on how there is a comet nearby that has shattered into over 64 different pieces. NASA is tracking one piece that has a minimum distance of just 9300 miles away from the earth, with a flyby on May 11. Given that some of these fragments have discrepancies of over 100% between their nominal miss and minimum miss distances, I find it a little hard to believe the NASA line that we should clearly miss this comet. If nothing else, from their graphs and such, it looks like the earth will be going through the comet's tail later this month.
I find it interesting that many of Alex Jones' videos are on Google Video's top 100 list. Check out the number 4 video. Loose Change 2nd Edition, a great video that discusses the logical fallacies with 9/11. I sense that there is a change going on in the minds of Americans slowly but surely.
Once upon a time, there was another way to describe whenever someone "flip-flopped." It was called "changing your mind." And similarly, once upon a time, this was a good attribute for someone to have. It prevented that person from being so dogmatically stuck in a mind set that was destined for catastrophe. Famous leaders such as Ronald Reagan had the ability to change his mind.
Keep in mind that this is different from having a wavering mind that accepts any new information without critical thinking, or altering views based upon popular opinion at the drop of a hat. That type of action is detrimental.
Sometimes people will change their minds for the better. Sometimes they make mistakes. But the people who have the ability to change will always have the advantage over those lock-stepped into a particular idea. I say good for Apple.
After years of study I'm writing about this for my upcoming book. Here's the sample from one of my chapters:
You will not advance over the 50% mark of your company's pay scale. Since the 1990s, personnel and payroll departments in companies have instituted a graduated pay structure often called "Banding" or "Leveled Pay" to save costs. The concept behind these systems is to organize employees into similar grades depending upon job category and responsibility. A secretary and a construction worker may be placed into the same grade, while their managers and engineers would be placed at a higher grade. These grades span a set amount of money, so for example the construction worker may earn anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000 per year.
However, this system was also structured to keep dangling a carrot in front of the eyes of the employee. The midpoint in these systems is designated as the "market average". Therefore, if you are near this midpoint, you are considered "paid competitively" compared to the rest of the people in that niche market. This makes the possibility for future raises smaller or nonexistent. For the sample construction worker, this would mean that he would not advance above $40,000 per year. While you may believe that you have the possibility of getting up to the top point in the grade, the system is intentionally designed to retard compensation.
I welcome any thoughts if this could be stated better.
The armed forces, including all the men and women in them, are responsible for the execution of war -- not the morality of war.
It's interesting you mention this. From what I understand, basic recruits are only given an hour to two hour lecture on the theories of Just War Doctrine and what qualifies as a "Just War". This was something that my dad took into consideration as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War.
This is exactly the kind of news that takes our attention away from important things like Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, and who is currently winning American Idol. I wanted to hear more about the housewife who won $407,000 last night on Deal or No Deal just for picking numbers randomly on suitcases. The American public can't be bothered with things like how Bush really knew about Katrina, how the dollar is so devalued it's not even funny, and stupid things like this tax credit. Either that, or we want 45-day waiting periods so our anger can subside.
Slashdot Mirror
-One computer room in a pork plant had its air intake on the roof... right next to the exhaust from the rendering exhaust. Now, while the smell itself was awful, the worst part was that the sulphur and other noxious chemicals would eat the computers alive. The IT group had to install a special device that monitored the decay levels of samples of metals such as copper, silver, and gold to see how long the machines would last.
-One computer room was made out of a new office on the third floor of one plant. But there were no elevators to get the hardware up into the room. So they cut a hole in the floor, used a gigantic crane, and lifted two guys with each fully-populated rack up to the room. And the crane was still three inches short, so the two guys would have to do a wheelie with 1000+ lbs. of equipment to get it in the room.
-The same plant with the hole in the floor was also keen on bringing in electricians who were severely brain damaged. How bad? Imagine a 110V cord strung across the air with no support. And the other end of the cord with the three prongs was "hot". And someone once plugged it into the wall socket. I hear it doubles as a cattle prod now.
-Two computer rooms needed air conditioning, so they simply carved holes in the walls and hung out Wal-Mart brand home air conditioners. With no other insulation. In the winter sometimes frost appeared on the machines.
-Many of the computer functions were relegated to plant employees with their own unique vocabulary. I had the privilege of speaking with one woman in Texas who sounded exactly like Boomhauer on "King of The Hill." Honest. Another one always tried one-upping the "smart" IT guys back at corporate. On one occasion, she said that her monitor was "tricating". This was the word she used to mean that the emulation was off. I informed her that there is no such word as "tricating," at which point she told me that since I was young I likely hadn't heard of that word before. Funny, neither had Merriam-Webster.
They are geniuses. American TV could learn something from them.
Think about wanting to be a manager with that in mind.
Science: Mesons Flip Between Matter and Antimatter 7 of 6 comments
Someone must have snuck in an antimatter posting or something.
Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242
Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law
This statute makes it a crime for any person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom to willfully deprive or cause to be deprived from any person those rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws of the U.S.
This law further prohibits a person acting under color of law, statute, ordinance, regulation or custom to willfully subject or cause to be subjected any person to different punishments, pains, or penalties, than those prescribed for punishment of citizens on account of such person being an alien or by reason of his/her color or race.
Acts under "color of any law" include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the bounds or limits of their lawful authority, but also acts done without and beyond the bounds of their lawful authority; provided that, in order for unlawful acts of any official to be done under "color of any law," the unlawful acts must be done while such official is purporting or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties. This definition includes, in addition to law enforcement officials, individuals such as Mayors, Council persons, Judges, Nursing Home Proprietors, Security Guards, etc., persons who are bound by laws, statutes ordinances, or customs.
Punishment varies from a fine or imprisonment of up to one year, or both, and if bodily injury results or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire shall be fined or imprisoned up to ten years or both, and if death results, or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
User ID Search Keywords Date Website
14476047 canine hearing aids 2006-03-13 20:10:50 http://www.listen-up.org/
14476047 harlem globetrotters.com 2006-03-22 21:39:33
14476047 harlem globetrotters.com 2006-03-22 21:39:47
14476047 splinter cell 2006-03-22 21:45:41 http://www.splintercell.com/
14476047 pacreas 2006-03-27 05:19:27
14476047 ounces to quarts 2006-04-06 16:09:39 http://www.metric-conversions.org/
14476047 ounces to quarts 2006-04-06 16:09:39 http://www.metric-conversions.org/
14476047 ounces to quarts 2006-04-06 16:09:39 http://www.free-gourmet-recipes.com/
14476047 roy rogers 2006-04-08 09:33:37 http://www.roy-rogers.com/
14476047 portuguese fireman. com 2006-04-21 21:35:01 http://www.portuguesefireman.com/
Control. That's what it's all about.
The truth is that these events will continue during the 2006 elections and we should start seeing a few Orange Alerts or even a planned attack here in the next several months. No, wait, I got it. There will be an attack immediately followed by news of Osama bin Laden's death. Yeah, that will do it.
Suppose your workers' performance is in the 90th, 85th, and 80th percentiles for performance. In grade school, that would be a solid B-average workforce. Now the bottom gets slashed, knocking out all of the 80th percentile people. Who replaces them? If the workers' performance followed a Bell curve, the next percentage should be at 50%. Congratulations, you have just shot yourself in the foot.
Jack Welsh was another hardass CEO interested in his own self-interest and full of ego. That's the fact.
In the example given, there was some interaction with working for and selling to the government, which I could see as illegal, but in all other cases with private organizations, I would say that things are fine. Does anyone have any details on the legality of this action?
1. The current nominal miss distance is 33LD, with a mimium miss distance of .04LD. When two estimates are so darn far apart, it makes it difficult to have any faith in their estimations. It's like saying, "between 4 and 33 million people will die of the bird flu". Some of the larger parts have been calculated more accurately, but this one has not been updated in over a week.
2. The nominal miss distance is calculated on a two-body system (comet and sun) that does not accomodate for the earth's gravity, as I understand it. Furthermore, the distance is from the center of mass of the two objects, which when you add the radius of the earth, drops the distance to just over 5,000 miles. This leads into the next problem...
3. The Roche limit for the earth is 11470 miles. That is the point at which tidal forces would tear an object apart. That would mean that the 5,000 mile estimate would put this thing in a place where it could be further fractured.
So, with all that in mind, plus the fact that there may be hundred of more chunnks of comet that no one has seen yet, plus several asteroids that will be passing within 6LD around the same time, makes me raise an eyebrow.
Keep in mind that this is different from having a wavering mind that accepts any new information without critical thinking, or altering views based upon popular opinion at the drop of a hat. That type of action is detrimental.
Sometimes people will change their minds for the better. Sometimes they make mistakes. But the people who have the ability to change will always have the advantage over those lock-stepped into a particular idea. I say good for Apple.
You will not advance over the 50% mark of your company's pay scale. Since the 1990s, personnel and payroll departments in companies have instituted a graduated pay structure often called "Banding" or "Leveled Pay" to save costs. The concept behind these systems is to organize employees into similar grades depending upon job category and responsibility. A secretary and a construction worker may be placed into the same grade, while their managers and engineers would be placed at a higher grade. These grades span a set amount of money, so for example the construction worker may earn anywhere between $30,000 and $50,000 per year.
However, this system was also structured to keep dangling a carrot in front of the eyes of the employee. The midpoint in these systems is designated as the "market average". Therefore, if you are near this midpoint, you are considered "paid competitively" compared to the rest of the people in that niche market. This makes the possibility for future raises smaller or nonexistent. For the sample construction worker, this would mean that he would not advance above $40,000 per year. While you may believe that you have the possibility of getting up to the top point in the grade, the system is intentionally designed to retard compensation.
I welcome any thoughts if this could be stated better.
It's interesting you mention this. From what I understand, basic recruits are only given an hour to two hour lecture on the theories of Just War Doctrine and what qualifies as a "Just War". This was something that my dad took into consideration as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War.