LINKEDIN: “a social networking tool” … maybe? maybe not!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT “LIVELINESS”

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From: GB
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2007 8:50 AM
To: John Reinke
Subject: Re: Has anyone tested the “liveliness” of their LinkedIn “network”?

Okay, I read and re-read this.

I am not sure what you are exactly trying to say.

I recognize LinkedIn as a social networking tool. Outside of that, the voluntary and or involuntary act of CHAT or IM exist only where there are willing participants.

I would chat if there was something to chat about.

Perhaps, if you develop a forum that you wish to chat about or subjects that you would like feedback, you might draw the sustainable interest in the participants.

Outside of that, not everyone had a 6 sigma mentality and or even the slightest idea what that entails.

I, myself, am confused at times about the ‘how’s’, the ‘who’s’ and the ‘what’s’.

But, after all, it is only social networking. Not like it is dating or any other real and tangible way to communicate…right?

How you doin’
GB

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>Okay, I read and re-read this.

Sorry, I wasn’t clearer.

>I am not sure what you are exactly trying to say.

LinkedIn is a “strange duck”. It’s not “networking”. It’s probably more than a “yellow pages for recruiters”. Folks are fooled into an “activity trap”
and think they are “doing networking”.

>i recognize LinkedIn as a social networking tool.

Tool? Hmmm, not sure of that.

>you might draw the sustainable interest in the participants.

I’m not trying to “draw the sustain able interest”. I’m trying to figure out what is the proper place for LinkedIn within my own thinking.

>not everyone had a 6 sigma mentality

OK, if you’re not into 6sig. Then, let me phrase the same question in “plain English”. If LinkedIn is a tool, then what value has it provided me that justifies the attention, work, money, or time that I put into it?

>But, after all, it is only social networking.

SO, it should be considered like MySpace, Facebook, or Friendster? I bet that’s a minority opinion.

> Not like it is dating or any other real and tangible way to communicate…right?

Maybe?

>How you doin’

Get ready for the next layoff, jobsearch, and my next to last job. :-) Fatalistic. But, best not to be surprised.

Thanks for the thoughts

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Addendum:

Regardless of how solid one thinks one is in the job they are doing somewhere, it’s wise to be “aware”. I’ve pontificated often on the need of “salarymen”, as the Japanese wisely call those of us who are working for a paycheck, that you are only sure of the last paycheck that cleared the bank! It’s nice to believe in mutual loyalty between employer and employee, but, like most myths, hitting that “iceberg of reality” can put a big hole in YOUR boat. Bear in mind, it may not even be the employer’s “fault”. But even if it is, you must be prepared for when “the show closes”.

You always have to see the NEXT layoff in your future. It maybe next week, next month, next quarter, next year, next decade … … but be assured there WILL BE one! Sooner or later. Like a snowstorm, flood, or tornado, there’s going to be one. Salarymen must be prepared for it!

Give 100% to your employer for that is what you bargained for. Then, give 100% to finding your next gig. Never ever get caught by surprise.

In my patented copyrighted super-secret Coke-like formula for “how many months will I be burning not earning”, I have a factor for your to rate your employer. Factor is ONE for gooferment workers. (Although that may change if your work for the IRS and Ron Paul gets elected. But you get the idea.) Factor is FIVE if you work on WALLSTREET. How likely are you to get NUKED? The point is there is always some probability that you’ll get tossed out on your year. Just yesterday, I heard a senior exec at my employer tell a room full of folk “no job is safe”. So, I’d be a fool not to heeded my own advice.

:-)

And I may be a the big fat old turkey hisself and a FOWG to boot, but Mama Reinke didn’t raise no fool. (Where do you think my obsession with working comes from? Her Scarlet O’Hara-like dream of never being hungry gain!)

So, it’s get busy NETWORKING to prevent NOTWORKING!

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TECHNOLOGY: robot bomb squad are looking to automate firefighting

Sunday, December 9, 2007

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/12/meet-your-robot.html

Meet Your Robotic Firefighters
By Noah Shachtman
December 05, 2007 | 5:15:00 PM

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The makers of Iraq’s robot bomb squad are looking to automate firefighting, too.

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Neat! Not hard to imagine more dirty jobs going to robots.

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POLITICAL: An invite to a virtual tea party!

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Join the 2007 version of the Boston Tea Party — December 16th (for those who went to Gooferment skoolz!), all us young revolutionaries will be there!
:-)

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From: Ron Paul 2008
Sent: Monday, December 03, 2007 1:38 PM
Subject: Message from Ron

December 3, 2007

Want to know a secret? There were two moments I especially enjoyed at the CNN/YouTube debate — despite my frustration at some of the questions, and the maldistribution of time.

First, I was pleased at John McCain’s attack, which he clearly had planned.
Not because that sort of stream-of-consciousness nonsense about Hitler and WWII — when the neocons openly want what they call WW IV! Are we to forget that the first war crime charged at Nuremberg was waging aggressive war?

I mean this: mainstream politicians NEVER attack an opponent they think is far behind. The McCain campaign, we’ve heard, is worried sick about New Hampshire, and they thought a slam at me would help. Ha! Of course, it only strengthened our forces.

Then, after the debate, Rudy Giuliani walked up to me and said, “Oooh, you sure have a LOT of supporters.” It’s only the beginning, I told him.

Indeed, he could have told that by the crowd outside after the debate. Mitt Romney had a few people, but no one else did. We, on the other hand, had about 500 enthusiastic revolutionaries, plus a boat, a trolley, and two planes towing lighted signs. As I looked out at the crowd, I thought: the establishment has no idea of what they are facing. We have an army of freedom, prosperity, and peace. As the LA Times political blog noted the other day, the British also thought they had no problem with the Americans–until Yorktown.

But we have an astoundingly short time before the first contests. The Iowa caucuses are on January 3, the New Hampshire primary is on January 8, and Nevada and South Carolina are both on January 19. We have only 30 days to stake our claim to the nomination, and to the new America that restores the ideals of the founders, and leads the world through free enterprise, a sound dollar, the rule of law, and peaceful example. Not through inflation and bombs.

Help me surprise the neocons and all the establishment with our success.
Help me build the foundation for the America we all want. Send your most generous contribution: https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate. The military-industrial complex, the biased media, the big banks, the Fed, the waterboarders, and the IRS don’t like what we’re doing. But every good American is applauding us, and daring to hope for a better future.

Please, help me give it to them, to us, to all Americans to come. Keep this revolution growing and winning: https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate.

Sincerely,

Ron

Paid for by the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign Committee.

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MONEY: What Is Insurance

Sunday, December 9, 2007

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog

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What Is Insurance and How Does It Fit Into My Plan?

Insurance is the cheapest and most immediate way for a person to displace risks that are too great to assume individually. I can afford the doctor for an annual check-up, but what if I need an MRI and surgery? By paying a smaller amount up front, I am moving the responsibility from my shoulders to a large organization.

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This drives me wild. It is so basic, yet we seem to have zero understanding.

(1) Ever watch the TV commercials made famous by Ed McM. Insure your baby. Insure your funeral expenses. Insure what? What in the Intelligent Designer’s name are you protecting against?

(2) Social Security Insurance? That Ponzi scheme should have never been allowed to assume the word “insurance”.

(3) “Health” Insurance that pays for routine maintenance stuff.

Insurance on the open market for true catastrophes, like death, are cheap and easy to buy. Life Insurance was pioneered by the fraternal organizations to mitigate the death of a wage earner.

So what are you calling “insurance” that isn’t? And, what are you paying for that you shouldn’t even be “insuring”? And, what are your biggest risks? Are they “insurable”? And which ones should you be mitigating and which should you properly be “insuring” (i.e., the big hairy ones)?

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