LINKEDIN: LinkedIn’s magic millions

Friday, January 4, 2008

FROM AN EXCHANGE ON CREATING LINKEDIN ACCOUNTS

*** begin quote ***

Perhaps this is the answer to the “quantity” types. You too could have
a few thousand meaningless networking contacts. And, at the same time
help LinkedIn reach 100 million accounts.

*** end quote ***

From: XXX
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2007 7:46 PM
Subject: LinkedIn’s magic millions

Wicked :)

*** my response ***

Glad you like that idea.

Can I interest you in the 10, 100, 1000, or our 10,000 contacts plan. I figure I can put up a script that will generate them as a service to our “quantity brethren”. What should I charge? $1/contact? 2?

Maybe I can have a pseudo identity with a pseudo army of contacts?

You really shouldn’t encourage me. Next I’ll have a deck and start looking for VC money.

:-)

Happy New Year,
fjohn

# – # – #

I wonder what an army of ghouls is worth. Time to update the taxonomy. What do spies call their alternate identities?

# # # # #


TECHNOLOGY: The Philosophy of technology lock in

Friday, January 4, 2008

In considering moving to an ultra light, my current subscription to verizon wireless broad band rears it’s ugly head. (It’s already in my doghouse for its recent poor performance in AC.) New notebooks offer a Verizon wireless broadband, but you can NOT swap in your existing plan. And, the plan is tied to that specific platform. Argh! If I sign up for another two years (an eternity in the technology world), then they give me a “free” usb dongle. Hah! Like I can be fooled by “free”. No more than I am by “unlimited”. Argh! What to do, w2do, w2do, what do I do?

# # # # #


LIBERTY: WHAT WOULD HE REPLACE PUBLIC SCHOOLS – WITH? simply put, nothing!

Friday, January 4, 2008

New comment on your post #3128 “LIBERTY: years of incarceration in these state Conformity Camps”
Author : Ken Jarvis
URL : http://VINISACOWARD
Comment:

HE WILL NEVER REPLY TO AN EMAIL
OR RETURN A PHONE CALL.
TO ANSWER THE QUESTION –
WHAT WOULD HE REPLACE PUBLIC SCHOOLS – WITH?

Ken Jarvis

*********
***FJR***
*********
>HE WILL NEVER REPLY TO AN EMAIL OR RETURN A PHONE CALL.

I assume you mean Vin.

>TO ANSWER THE QUESTION –

Has anyone every told you that all uppercase is like yelling at someone.

>WHAT WOULD HE REPLACE PUBLIC SCHOOLS – WITH?

I can’t speak for Vin, but I can for myself.

I’d replace them with NOTHING!

During the nu jerzee florio tax revolt, I thought we could use vouchers for a weaning off period of say 20 years. We didn’t get into this mess overnight. So we can’t expect to get out overnight.

I don’t have it handy but it went something like this.

(1) 40 year plan to get the gooferment out of eddycation. First twenty, 5% of the students each year get a green voucher that they can spend for the education of their choice; the rest get a red on that can only be used at their local gooferment skoolz. Second twenty, the vouchers decrease 5% per year until they are zero.

(2) Parents choose, but the vouchers can’t be cashed. There are no gooferment standards for skoolz. If the parents sign over the voucher, then that’s it.

(3) Each existing gooferment skoolz is given to the principle, teachers, and custodians as a corporation. There has to be a bond for the guaranteed twenty years of students they are asked to educate.

At the end of 40 years, we are done.

:-)

fjohn

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

>>HE WILL NEVER REPLY TO AN EMAIL OR RETURN A PHONE CALL.
>I assume you mean Vin.

Right.

>>TO ANSWER THE QUESTION –
>Has anyone every told you that all uppercase is like yelling at someone.

Yes,
but I use CAPS for EMPHASIS.

>>WHAT WOULD HE REPLACE PUBLIC SCHOOLS – WITH?
>I can’t speak for Vin, but I can for myself.
>I’d replace them with NOTHING!

No schools?
NONE at ALL?

No schools is NOT working well in
3rd world countries.

>During the nu jerzee florio tax revolt, I thought we could use vouchers for a weaning
>off period of say 20 years. We didn’t get into this mess overnight.
>So we can’t expect to get out overnight.
>I don’t have it handy but it went something like this.
>(1) 40 year plan to get the gooferment out of eddycation. First twenty, 5% of the students each year get a
>green voucher that they can spend for the education of their choice; the rest get a red on that can only be
>used at their local gooferment skoolz. Second twenty, the vouchers decrease 5% per year until they are zero.
>(2) Parents choose, but the vouchers can’t be cashed. There are no gooferment standards for skoolz. If the
>parents sign over the voucher, then that’s it.
>(3) Each existing gooferment skoolz is given to the principle, teachers, and custodians as a corporation.
>There has to be a bond for the guaranteed twenty years of students they are asked to educate.
>At the end of 40 years, we are done.

I am assuming this is an attempt at humor.

Otherwise it just sounds like BS to me.

Ken

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

In this country – education is compulsory – learning is optional

THE WAY TO GIVE ALL STUDENTS THE BEST TRAINING IN ANY SUBJECT.

Why don’t they take THE BEST Teacher for EACH subject, and Videotape their class.

Then, play the video in EVERY CLASS ROOM, for that subject, in the state, and on PBS.

As an example, let’s use Freshman High School English.

Make Each Video 30 minutes.

The video would be played at the Beginning of each class
and the Remainder of the class time would be used for an
IN CLASS teacher to discuss the tape, and answer questions.

If a Student missed a class, they would be REQUIRED to watch those tapes.

That way EVERY student of Freshman English, in EVERY school in NV would
get the same information.
===

Nevada should have a Goal to be the
BEST STATE IN THE UNION.

To be the Best State
we Need the Smartest People.

To have the Smartest People
they must be the BEST EDUCATED.

To get the Best Education
we Need the Best Teachers.

We get the BEST Teachers
by paying them better than any other state.

At present, NV has NO goal.

Ken Jarvis

*********
***FJR***
*********

No, gooferment skoolz. We’ll still have schools. They just won’t be government run, government funded, or government regulated. No gooferment involvement at all.

Now before you freak out, we had great schools before the gooferment got involved. We will again.

Education is too important to be left to gooferment.

Parents don’t have children to leave them uneducated. They are an investment in the future and their legacy.

My plan was much more formal and had citations to working examples and research topics. The idea was essentially migrate out of the mess, out parents in charge, and “abandon” the current assets in the custody of the inmates.

Third world countries fail because their socialist gooferment enslave their people.

*********
***FJR***
*********

> education is compulsory – learning is optional

We agree on that.

>THE WAY TO GIVE ALL STUDENTS THE BEST TRAINING IN ANY SUBJECT

There we disagree. There is no one “best” way. People are unique. And, the gooferment’s “one size fits all” solution (to EVERY problem) is exactly OPPOSITE what the free market will deliver. To satisfy the demand, we have MickeyDs, BurgerKing, and Wendys just to name a few. If the market does that with just “hamburgers”, imagine what it will do with education.

>NV GOAL: BEST STATE IN THE UNION

I’d suggest that the goal should be the “free-est” state. “Best” will follow quickly behind that.

>

I loved NV in the 70’s. No gambling age, no drinking age, no speed limits. Where did you all go wrong?

:-)

I guess we’ll just have to disagree agreeably!

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

>No, gooferment skoolz. We’ll still have schools. They just won’t be government run,
>government funded, or government regulated. No gooferment involvement at all.

WHO would build the schools?

Let’s start there.

>Now before you freak out, we had great schools before the gooferment got involved. We will again.

WHEN was that
The govt has ALWAYS RUN the schools.

>Education is too important to be left to gooferment.

What part of the govt
don’t you like?

We drive on govt built highways,
our money is in FDIC insured Banks,
the FHA finances my home,
I went to college on the GI Bill.

Other than Closing the schools
HOW would YOU fix things?

>Parents don’t have children to leave them uneducated. They are an investment in the future and their legacy.
>My plan

I must have missed it.
What is it?

>was much more formal and had citations to working examples and research topics.
>The idea was essentially migrate out of the mess, out parents in charge, and
>”abandon” the current assets in the custody of the inmates.

Third world countries fail because their socialist gooferment enslave their people.

Education is the MOST POWERFUL tool
anyone can have.

KJ

*********
***FJR***
*********

KJ> education is compulsory – learning is optional
JR>We agree on that.
KJ>THE WAY TO GIVE ALL STUDENTS THE BEST TRAINING IN ANY SUBJECT

There we disagree. There is no one “best” way.

KJ>With the plan I present
KJ>ALL students HAVE ACCESS TO THE SAME INFO.
KJ>It is what they do with it
KJ>that matters.

People are unique. And, the gooferment’s “one size fits all” solution (to EVERY problem) is exactly OPPOSITE what the free market will deliver.

KJ>How about an example.

To satisfy the demand, we have MickeyDs, BurgerKing, and Wendys just to name a few. If the market does that with just “hamburgers”, imagine what it will do with education.

KJ>Hamburgers – Schools?????
KJ> You say one place –
KJ>”exactly OPPOSITE what the free market will deliver.” (free market is good)
KJ>”If the market does that with just “hamburgers”, imagine what it will do with education.”
KJ> – (free market is bad)

OK.
I give up.
Which is it?

KJ>NV GOAL: BEST STATE IN THE UNION

I’d suggest that the goal should be the “free-est” state. “Best” will follow quickly behind that.

JR>I loved NV in the 70’s. No gambling age,

BS

JR>no drinking age,

BS

JR>no speed limits.

BS

JR>Where did you all go wrong?

Change that to –
Where did fjohn go wrong?
He started reading Vin
the Weedman.

KJ

*********
***FJR***
*********

KJ>WHO would build the schools?

The same people who build mcdonalds, wendys, … and everything else. The “evil corporations” in search of a profit. They will “figure out” how to educate children in such a way that their parents will give them “certificates of appreciation” (i.e., money) for doing it.

KJ>The govt has ALWAYS RUN the schools

Government schools is relatively modern development. In the late 1800’s, the Prussian aristocracy wanted a population of factory workers and soldiers and they “invented” government education. In the early 1900, Horace Mann and Thomas Dewey imported that model to the United States. Prior to “mandatory attendance” laws, education was up to the parents. Communities formed schools (i.e., the one room school house) and they were voluntarily funded by the prominent citizens of the community. In the cities, churches and charities formed schools, and HOSPITALS, for the poor. It wasn’t until the 1950s that Big Gooferment moved in and “claimed” a mandate to provide “education”. Sigh, it has been ALL downhill since.

Lest you think not, there’s a high school graduation test from the 1890’s floating around on the net from some middle state. I tried it and I’d be hard pressed to pass it. We currently rank in the middle of all the countries of the world in academics. I read somewhere where the USA graduates 300,000 functionally illiterates from high school.

When you are in Detroit with a map of Atlanta, you’re lost. You need a new map. Similarly, we are “lost” in the muck of gooferment education, and we too need a new “map”. Fortunately we have one. Look at the pre-school education marketplace (i.e., montessori and it’s competitors) and look at the alternative IT education marketplace. There real people pay real money for results. The results are outstanding and the costs drop year over year. Like the computer industry where ruthless competition gives us better for less.

KJ>What part of the govt don’t you like?

All of it.

Gooferment makes us pay for services that we can’t use, don’t want, or if we have to use it costs far more than is reasonable.

KJ>We drive on govt built highways,

And, they are over-priced wrecks.

I can go through line by line and try to explain what a bad deal gooferment is for the productive class. But, I doubt I’d ever convince you.

KJ>fix things

I’m supporting Ron Paul for President. My rx is always the same: end ALL the wars — foreign and domestic, stop the dole — for people and companies, bring the troops home, cut the gooferment back to strict constitutional size, pardon all the non-violent people in prison, phase out “publik eddikation”, and return to honest money.

KJ>my plan

I detailed three basic points to end gooferment education. (1) Repeal mandatory attendance and create a multi-decade exit strategy; (2) reempower parents in educating their children; and (3) give the school infrastructure over to the principals, teachers, and janitors and let them compete.

KJ>Education is the MOST POWERFUL tool

Nope, liberty is. The freedom to make mistakes. The ability to follow one’s dreams and keep the fruits of one’s labor is the best that can be achieved in this life.

>

We have to agree to disagree agreeably. We have completely different paradigms, memes, and values.

But thanks for the conversations and blog fodder.

fjohn

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

I appreciate your replies
but YOU ARE SO FAR OFF BASE
that I will cover your reply
point by point.

KJ>WHO would build the schools?
JR>The same people who build mcdonalds, wendys, … and everything else.

The Govt builds the schools
There is NO profit in Education.

Private Corps build McD, W….
and they do it for a profit.

KJ

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

JR>Government schools is relatively modern development.

First –
YOU and NUtty Vin call them Govt schools
The SANE World calls them PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Schools – usually ONE ROOM
started immediately after the pilgrams landed.

KJ

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

>What part of the govt don’t you like?

All of it.

Gooferment makes us pay for services that we can’t use,

Example Please.

don’t want,

Example Please.

KJ

*********
***FJR***
*********

I have no children, yet I am forced at gunpoint to pay for gooferment skools. I am forced to do all sorts of things and pay for the insult. FDA, DEA, CIA, FBI, TSA, FEMA … etc. etc.

I have no desire for the gooferment “social security insurance” ponzi scheme that has an roi of between -1% and .5% depending upon who you believe while monetary inflation exceeds an average of 5%.

*********
***FJR***
*********

One more try.

>There is NO profit in Education

Exactly. There is NO profit in education. (Ignoring for the moment pre-school like montesorri and goddard. And, ignore the post high-school non-college t”technical” education. That both do quite nicely.)

The lack of profits cause three problems:

(1) How does the gooferment skool know when its spending or charging correctly. In the absences of a competitively determined price, how do we know when we have put enough money into schools? When the politicians, bureaucrats, and other tell us we have? (This is typical of all socialist enterprises as identified brilliantly by vonMises in his book “socialism” in the 1920s.) In business, one seeks to deliver a service at a profit at a price the consumer is willing to pay. Schools have no “profit” to steer by.

(2) What happens when the gooferment skool fails? Nothing. The elite throw more money at the problem. The absence of “profit” means there is no market mechanism to tell the participants to stop.

(3) What happens to the consumers when there are NO profits. The Catholic, parochial, and private schools have gone broke when the gooferment provides a free good. So how do the socialists know when another school is needed? In a free market, if you’re running a school and making lots of profits, then competitors will be summoned magically to the opportunity and build schools to compete.

The problem is SOCIALISM. The problem is GOOFERMENT. The problem is we can’t see that the same solution, which feeds us, can educate the children.

I’m an injineer, not a writer or an economist or a social scientist, but it seems so obvious to me.

They say that insanity is “doing more of the same and expecting different results”. We are collectively INSANE if we think gooferment is going to solve our problems.

The Socialists — Mann and Dewey — imported the Prussian system of education to create a dumbed down society of factory workers and soldiers that could be led by the elite. (Google a guy named Ghatto who has written extensively about it.)

As I said agree to disagree agreeably.
fjohn

****************
***Ken Jarvis***
****************

JR>I have no children,

Maybe someday.

JR>yet I am forced at gunpoint

“gunpoint”?

You should tell Vin.
THAT would be a REAL News story.

JR>to pay for gooferment skools.

Who Paid for YOUR education?

JR>I am forced to do all sorts of things and pay for the insult. FDA, DEA, CIA, FBI, TSA, FEMA … etc. etc.

I agree with you.

There SHOULD be a USA National Lottery
so that THOSE THINGS PEOPLE FAVOR
COULD BE PAID FOR – BY THEM.

Education
ALL of the money going to Education

Iraq War

Political Campaigns
To be divided between Candidates
We MUST get the $$$$ OUT of politics.

I proposed this some time back.
With a NLottery
we would ALL Pay for THOSE THINGS WE BELIEVE IN
AND WANT.

>I have no desire for the gooferment “social security insurance” ponzi scheme that
>has an roi of between -1% and .5% depending upon who you believe while monetary
>inflation exceeds an average of 5%.

When you start getting the checks
just tear them up
and throw them away.

What stock would you invest in?

*********
***FJR***
*********

At this point, I’m exhausted.

It was fun, but you can convince socialists that they have bad paradigms (i.e., how they perceive things), memes (a.k.a., ideas; methods; concepts), or values (i.e., what’s important).

But it makes great blog fodder.

Please feel free to engage KJ directly.

# # # # #


FUN: Alone in his tiny plastic sea kayak

Friday, January 4, 2008

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=505753&in_page_id=1770

It’s behind you: Great White stalks ocean canoeist
Last updated at 00:19am on 3rd January 2008

*** begin quote ***

Alone in his tiny plastic sea kayak, marine biologist Trey Snow had hoped to stealthily track a great white shark. But he had the shock of his life when he spotted a giant fin and realised it was he who was being stalked – by surely one of the most feared killers in the world.

*** end quote ***

Great pic with a copyright. Take a peek … …

… … and decide if the fellow needed clean shorts. I would! Can you say “Hmm, that looks like a butter basted penguin. Yummy!”

Humans have such ego that, in a dangerous world, outside their element, they go see if the Great White is f … … having marital relations or visiting with cousins.

The Intelligent Designer must be laffin his aqq off. (We are made in the image and likeness right?)

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MONEY: have 12 single family rental homes

Thursday, January 3, 2008

FROM AN EMAIL EXCHANGE ABOUT A NEARBY HOUSE BEING SOLD

284k?

Always thought the way to wealth was to have 12 single family rental homes.

At 300, the opportunity cost is about 15k. If you financed 300k for 30 years at 5%, the PI is 1610. If you could rent it at say 2k, then at the end of 30 years, you have an asset that throws off 24k per year. Twelve of them is 240+48=288/year. An excellent retirement.

I first saw this proposed in the 70s by a discredited hustler named Sonny Bloch. (Later convicted on something unrelated to real estate.)

Shoulda, coulda, and woulda if I was smart.

You have to be meticulous with money. Diversify your risks. But, I can see how it is a guaranteed winner. Like when we rented the shore house. Rents edge up over time. You sign one year leases with your tenants. Hefty security deposits. A lot of headaches, but after 30 years, or 40 years, you have the equivalent of the family farm. Incorporated it as a family business to minimize tax and legal risks.

Sigh.

Too late, I get smart.

:-)

# – # – #

Note: You have to bootstrap into 12. Optimistically, you get into one per year. Or per two year. You have to ruthlessly buy cheap quality houses. Modest improvements; diligent maintenance. Track the cash flow. Eventually the equity builds up. I think you title each one in its own corporate entity. Superior performing ones could be sold off at a premium. Hard work, but the road to riches imho.

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PRODUCTIVITY: everyone’s story is invaluable to understanding the human experience

Thursday, January 3, 2008

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/10853

Creatively Speaking: Isobella Jade’s memoir
by David – January 2, 2008 – 3:02 AM

***Begin Quote***

It’s a new year, so I thought I’d start by introducing a new feature I’m calling Creatively Speaking, in which I interview all sorts of artists for a first-hand look at how they go about creating their work.

***End Quote***

Humorously, NEW YEAR’S DAY, I wrote the following comment.

http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/archives/1060#comments

*** begin quote ***

Hey, you have to have a certain amount of ego to take the bruises of everyday life. After layoffs, and all the other bad things that happen to good people every lifetime, you have to have the self-confidence to say “I wrote THE book” on something. Even if it’s one’s own autobiography, everyone has a story to tell.

*** end quote ***

And the very next day, the UNIVERSE delivers some reinforcement!

*** begin quote ***

DI: When you were writing the book at Apple, how did you save your files?

IJ: I saved the files each day to my Yahoo account, email form. I still have most of them saved. The Apple store did bring some tragic moments though while writing the book…I did have a moment when the Internet froze on the iMac I was working on while writing. Which meant I couldn’t save my document to my email and I thought about saving it to a folder on the desktop or making one somewhere discreet so no one would take it. After I pouted to a store employee about my catastrophe he told me I could buy a CD at the store and then download it, but my funds were limited at the time. So instead I called a film director I knew who lived in SoHo and even with a broken leg, in his crutches he brought me a CD and I was able to burn my document on the disk and save one of the best parts of my book. I believe once you write something, you can never fully write it again the same, so I wasn’t going to leave the store without it. And yes I did cry, stomp my foot, and swear a few times over it. It was extremely dramatic at the time because I also realized at that moment how much the store meant to me, what I was doing, and that even if the store didn’t know it, the store was my means to survival sort of, and it was like I saw my desperation on the computer screen waiting for the Internet to be turned on.

*** end quote ***

If you don’t believe that your story is worth telling then who will think it so. (Other than me of course!)

I wish that all my relatives took the time to memorialize their wisdom. Even if they were dead wrong (i.e., “the world is flat”), it serves as a jumping off point from whence you came. As they say “past is prologue” and “those, who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it”.

We have in the internet and endless archive of all human thought that gets recorded. True, much of it (i.e., inet porn) is imho a waste of electrons. But who knows what a genetic researcher can glean from all those photos? I’m not about to throw anything away. Especially when its so cheap to keep. (Consult the Inet Archive guy Brewster Kahle on how it’s possible to archive all human knowledge.) Maybe they will need to know what humans looked like in the Year 2000 some time in the Year 4000 after all the genetic engineering makes humans all look alike.

My point was: everyone’s story is invaluable to understanding the human experience.

And, imho, to leave this existence, without recording it in some form, is a selfish act with tragic consequences.

# # # # #

 


POLITICAL: Iran hanged 13 convicted criminals on New Year’s day

Thursday, January 3, 2008

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/01/happy_new_year_in_iran.html

January 03, 2008
Happy New Year in Iran
Ethel Fenig
While we were enjoying New Year’s day on Wednesday

*** begin quote ***

Iran hanged 13 convicted criminals on Wednesday, including the mother of two young children who had been found guilty of murdering her husband after discovering he was having an affair, reports said.

*** end quote ***

And, we are worried about these folks?

They virtually enslave half their people (i.e., women). And, they tell the other half that they are better.

What a recipe for success. Ours!

# # # # #


GOLDBUG: real glitter for gold bullion

Thursday, January 3, 2008

http://investmentpostcards.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/gold-glitters-brightly-at-start-of-2008

Gold glitters brightly at start of 2008
Posted by Prieur du Plessis under Gold
Tags: Bullion, Business, Commodities, Economy, Finance, Gold, Investment, Markets, Money

*** begin quote ***

Waving the old year goodbye with a few new records under the belt is no mean feat, but the real glitter for gold bullion is that most indicators seem to point to more good news down the line.

*** end quote ***

With gooferment spending out of control — several ongoing “wars” — foreign and domestic, the sub-prime mess, social security ponzi, medicare costs, medicare drug costs, presidential candidate promising higher taxes — it’s hard to imagine this reversing any time soon.

About the ONLY hope is an unexpected Ron Paul win. (Then, I’d be a “buy everything — the good times are here” nut!)

But, if one assumes he doesn’t win, then I’d look for gold to have an unlimited run up.

# # # # #


RANT: Hey Governor Corzine — still wanna hear about state cars? … (continued) …

Thursday, January 3, 2008

You don’t? TOO BAD!

Date: 20080102
Time: 1643
Location: I295N near Exit 65A
Subject: SG 02 375 White capped pick up
Violation: Speeding and tailgating

As a mitigating factor, it wasn’t in the left lane. He must have been on his cell phone because he didn’t whizzz by.

Any way I am sure that he was hurrying to get to I assume trenton to protect and serve me.

Arghhh!

P.S.: Dear reader, I don’t write these every day. Just when I ARRIVE early for work, particularly agitated aggravated and have to wait for my employer workstation to get online.

# # # # #


JOBSEARCH: Age discrimination is rampant!

Thursday, January 3, 2008

FROM AN MLPF POST

>Late Introduction
>Posted by: “Joseph S Vinci”
>Tue Jan 1, 2008 4:46 pm (PST)
>Hi all I’m Joe Vinci, I have been a member of the group for a few months,
>I am a 48 Year old IT Director with over 28 Year’s of experience in various
>I have been recently laid off due to “Off-Shoring” after 25 years on the

Hi, Joe, I’m a few years in front of you in the “race to the finish line” in the same discipline, but no rug rats to take care of me in my old age. :-( Guess I’ll be depending upon social security. Hah!

Assuming that you’re not a “lotto winner”, I’ll tell you what I wish someone had told me two decades ago.

“Age discrimination is rampant! Get ready for it now.”

:-)

I work with out-of-work execs, mostly IT, despite being a full time employee executive in IT. (Although the way life is, I could be unemployed tomorrow!) My “turkey farm” is at http://tinyurl.com/lxu93 for your use. (Turkey is what we called each other at my first outplacement experience.) The thing that all these folks have in common is that they were totally unprepared for the axe to fall on them. I pontificate to anyone who will listen that “awareness” is the first principle to success. I say things like “you’re only sure of the last paycheck you cashed”, “when is your turn at the unemployment window”, and “like at the poker table, if you don’t see the sucker, you’re it”. When you’re aware and expecting it, you’ll have a big emergency fund, a tuned up network, and lots of options. When you’re not, it’s a bad fire drill. I can make all the usual suggestions — a branded email, website, blog, elevator spiel with geographic and financial comfort zones, network using Lucht AND LinkedIn, as well as do EVERYTHING at once. But, you’ll hear those said by others.


LIBERTY: a state and municipal public-private partnership

Thursday, January 3, 2008

http://www.muniwireless.com/article/articleview/6687/1/23

Ohio rings in New Year with a broadband initiative
• Posted by Carol Ellison at 7:50 AM Today

***Begin Quote***

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland officially launched Connect Ohio, a state and municipal public-private partnership aimed at mapping and filling gaps in broadband access across the state.

“The goal of Connect Ohio is to create customized support for local communities to meet their individual technological needs while helping expand broadband service to all residents and businesses,” Strickland said in announcing the program.

***End Quote***

“Public-Private” partnership = fascism.

“fill in the gaps” = uneconomic allocation of resources (i.e., there’s no broadband there because no one want to pay for it)

No, once again, gooferment at work. Undermining our liberties. I wonder if the taxpayers of Ohio wanted their money going down this rat hole?

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TECHNOLOGY: You Can’t Copy

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/RIAA-Says-You-Cant-Copy-Music-To-Your-Computer-90566

RIAA Says You Can’t Copy Music To Your Computer
Even when you’ve legally purchased the CD that it comes off of
02:04PM Saturday Dec 29 2007 by KathrynV

***Begin Quote***

They say that even a copy made on to your own computer is considered unauthorized. The Arizona man that they’ve accused of this crime has refused to pay the RIAA fines and the issue is heading to litigation.

***End Quote***

I think we have really now thrown down the red cape in front of the bull.

What kind of “barbara streisand” is this?

I have cassette tapes that I paid through the nose for and they say “tough”.

Well, I say we boycott them.

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POLITICAL: ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/31/debate.limits.ap/index.html

TV cuts candidates from debates, angering Paul backers

*** begin quote ***

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC and Fox News Channel are narrowing the field of presidential candidates invited to debates this weekend just before the New Hampshire primary, in Fox’s case infuriating supporters of Republican Rep. Ron Paul.

*** end quote ***

Here come the “dirty tricks”.

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RANT: OSHA conducted 39,324 total inspections

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://www.docuticker.com/?p=18615

 

OSHA records another successful enforcement year in FY 2007
Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

*** begin quote ***

In FY 2007, OSHA conducted 39,324 total inspections, a 4.3 percent increase over its stated goal of 37,700. Total violations of OSHA’s standards and regulations were 88,846, a 6 percent increase from Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. The agency cited 67,176 serious violations, a 9 percent increase from the previous year and a more than 12 percent increase over the past four years. The number of cited repeat violations also rose from 2,551 in FY 2006 to 2,714 in FY 2007.

*** end quote ***

Notice the metric is not “safety”.

Your gooferment at work!

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INTERESTING: TOD — a globe-wide universal constant

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2007/12/09/half-an-hour

FOLLOWING UP AN EXCHANGE OF COMMENTS

>local time on the clock is more than just a number.

Hmmm, interesting. So, it makes a difference if lunch is at “noon local” or “1700 GMT”?

>actually influence behaviour and particularly social synchronicity.

I’m hard pressed to see the “synch” impacted by what is essentially a label.

>For example, If the local time was effectively random

But it’s not “random”; it’s a globe-wide universal constant.

>what’s the best time to pull in for lunch?

When you’re hungry?

:-)

Seriously! Isn’t it more likely that figuring out a plane or train connection from afar is complicated by the lack of a universal time constant.

Just working in a two time zone company with Microsoft Outlook screwing up meetings for travelers, I keep coming back to the idea of GMT. Like that proverbially “stopped clock” being right twice a day.

>the trains would run better without any rush hour

I think you still have rush hour, or hours — here in the NYC, but we would just assign another number to label it. NYC 8 to 5 would be GMT13 to GMT20. Maybe Dolly Parton has to redo her hit song, but we’d all profit from the simplification.

>if the clock strikes three it’s time for tea

GMT15?

>

And England will always be the center of the world!

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PRODUCTIVITY: Principles of Underachievement

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://www.43folders.com/2007/12/31/death-and-underachievement-guide-happiness-work

Death and Underachievement: A Guide to Happiness in Work
Ryan Norbauer | Dec 31 2007

***Begin Quote***

Bennet’s “Principles of Underachievement:”

* Life’s too short.
* Control is an illusion.
* Expectations lead to misery.
* Great expectations lead to great misery.
* Achievement creates expectations.
* The law of diminishing returns applies everywhere.
* Perfect is the enemy of good.
* The tallest blade of grass is the surest to be cut.
* Accomplishment is in the eye of the beholder.

***End Quote***

Good is the enemy of the best? Good enough for government work? Gilding the Lilly. Cheap, fast, or right: pick any two!

Wisdom or whizdumb?

Part of being productive is doing just enough!

Are we – you – me putting in more than we can ever get out?

One thing that was driven home over and over to me this year is it is not “underachieving” to forego attempting to achieve in a lower priority area to allow accomplishments in a higher priority one. I’m not sure if I’ve learned that lesson. But, I’m trying.

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LINKEDIN: Digital Nuisance

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://www.jibberjobber.com/blog/archives/1060

Resolve To Not Be A Digital Nuisance In 2008
January 1st, 2008

*** begin quote ***

Improving communication is key to our career success, right? Here are 08 things for ‘08 to help us communicate better on the digital playground.

*** end quote ***

One can only hope that one avoid annoying people. After all, we need them to do the “heavy lifting”.

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INTERESTING: who comes out of the Temple huddle to accept their symbolic handshake?

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://scarletknights.com/basketball-women/news/release.asp?prID=5999

No. 6 Rutgers Rolls Past Temple, 70-34
Scarlet Knights Notch Fourth Straight Victory
Posted on 12/30/2007 4:38:13 PM

***Begin Quote***

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Three players scored in double figures as the No. 6 Rutgers women’s basketball team picked up its fourth straight win, a 70-34 home victory over Atlantic 10 opponent Temple Sunday afternoon at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

***End Quote***

Now, Frau has season tickets to the RU women’s games. She’s a subway alumni.

(No connection to the University. Just live in the neighborhood. We’ve been going since before they went “big time”. Frau played semi-pro and was just born a decade too soon. What could have been? And, she thoughly enjoys the game of basketball and especially when the “girls” — some of them are well past that label — play well. They don’t have to “win”; just play well.)

Now I’ve seen more games than I care to count. And, the other day I was surprised.

(Not Casablanca style shocked, just absolutely surprised.)

Many teams have the routine when the starting line up is announced the started runs over to the opponent’s huddle, and shakes someone’s hand as a sign of something. Usually, some assistant coach, like a George job, steps out and represents the coach.

Now Temple’s coach, Dawn Staley, is something of a celebrity. She’s an icon of women’s basketball. Great career in college. WNBA. College coach. One could imagine that to a current player she represents what they would like to become. So I would imagine that shaking her hand would be something extra ordinary.

So, ready for the surprise?

When the RU starters were announced, who comes out of the Temple huddle to accept their symbolic handshake?

None other than Dawn Staley herself.

I pointed that out to the clique of season ticket holders around me who are like a pseudo family. And, for each of the five players who came to shake her hand, she held it for a second and presumably said something to them. One even got a hug! I could be imagining things but them seem to leave that handshake with just a little more spring in their step. As I say, I’ve seen a lot of these, and this one was exceptional.

That’s an exemplar of what sport’s icons should be.

It would have been easy for her to blow that off. But she didn’t. And, maybe in the grand scheme of things, it’s a small matter than no one will notice. I did, and thought that it should be noted. And immortalized in some small way.

I think how we treat these little opportunities gives us an insight into people’s souls. I’m sure that the Universe has special things in store for a special person like Dawn Staley.

http://owlsports.cstv.com/sports/w-baskbl/mtt/staley_dawn00.html

*** begin quote ***

In just seven seasons at the helm, Dawn Staley is well on her way to shaping the Temple women’s basketball program into the national powerhouse that she promised when taking over on April 12, 2000. The 2004 and 2005 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year and 2005 Regional Coach of the Year, Staley has won 151 games, becoming the fastest coach in Temple women’s basketball history to reach 100 wins. She has led the Owls to their first-ever A-10 Tournament titles (2002, 2004, 2005, 2006), five NCAA appearances since 2002 and a first-ever Top 25 National Ranking. In 2006, Temple won its third straight Atlantic 10 title, a feat that has been accomplished just one other time in A-10 history. The Owls have won four of the last six Conference titles and are ranked 31st on the nation’s list of most wins over the last seven years. She also helped to produce Temple’s first-ever WNBA First Round Draft Picks, when Candice Dupree (’06) and Kamesha Hairston (’07) were drafted by the Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun, respectively. All of this hard work has not gone unnoticed. In the summer of 2007, Philadelphia’s favorite daughter was voted Philadelphia’s “Best College Coach” in Philadelphia Magazine’s “Best of Philly” edition.

Most of these accomplishments occurred while Staley maintained her highly publicized “summer job” as an All-Star player for the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting and Houston Comets. Staley retired from WNBA competition following the 2006 season but not before leaving quite a legacy in the 10-year league. During the 2006 season, she was voted an All-Star for the fifth time, becoming the first player in WNBA history to play for both the East and the West squads. She also edged Katie Douglas, 17-16, to win the WNBA’s first-ever Three Point Challenge. Staley was also honored as a member of the WNBA’s All-Decade team. Chosen from among 30 nominees by fans, a panel of national and WNBA-market media and the league’s current players and coaches, the WNBA All-Decade Team recognized the 10 players who have contributed the most to the overall success of the WNBA. Consideration was given to on-court performance and ability, leadership, sportsmanship and community service, as well as to their contribution to team success and the growth of women’s basketball. As if all of this wasn’t enough, Staley now has an award named in her honor. Beginning in 2007, the WNBA will present the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award to the player who best exemplifies the characteristics of a leader in the community in which she works or lives.

*** end quote ***

Sounds like someone who has talent as well as class.

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INTERESTING: once someone makes a decision

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://www.intuitive.com/blog/end_of_year_movie_tally_89100.html

***Begin Quote***

The Shawshank Redemption (#72)

“redemption in prison”

***End Quote***

With all do respect, I think you may have miscategorized or mislabled this gem. Maybe whoever gave you this opinion missed the point. It’s more about liberty. Like Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning or maybe Robinson Crusoe, it’s more about a man deciding that while one can be in “prison”, you can really be free. And, that once someone makes a decision, they’re no stopping them unless you kill them. As the young elephant is “trained”, so so do we build our own “jails”. Personally, I’d bump this up a few notches on the “2do” list. imho, fjohn

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RANT: disguise the immense costs by the use of inflation

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

http://www.lewrockwell.com/gordon/gordon32.html

Freedom Under Siege
by David Gordon

*** begin quote ***

If we had a sound monetary system, aggressive wars of this sort would be rendered difficult, if not outright impossible, to undertake. If the government wanted to launch an aggressive war, it would have to obtain the money to do so through tax increases or borrowing. It could not disguise the immense costs by the use of inflation, as it does now.

*** end quote ***

And quoting Laurel and Hardy, “this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into”!

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