Category: Productivity

PRODUCTIVITY: Sorry, no “bonuses” for failing corporations at Taxpayers’ expense

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

https://nypost.com/2023/03/12/no-govt-bailout-for-silicon-valley-bank-yellen/

 Government won’t bail out Silicon Valley Bank, which paid workers bonuses hours before collapse
By Bruce Golding 
March 12, 2023 12:19pm 

*** begin quote ***

Silicon Valley Bank employees received their annual bonuses shortly before the bank was seized Friday, NBC News reported late Saturday.

The bank traditionally hands out bonuses for the prior year’s work on the second Friday in March, and the payments had been in the works for days, sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.  

It’s unclear how much cash was distributed, but NBC said the bonuses likely ranged from $14,000 each for associates to $140,000 apiece for managing directors, based on figures posted on the Glassdoor website.

*** end quote ***

Can anyone say “clawback”?

If the firm fails, why should AYONE get a “bonus”?

I’d argue that alll executive compensation packages should be contingent on the enterprise surviving.

In other blog pasts, I’ve argued that no one should get a “salary” that is more than the US President.  They should then get compensation in the form of bonds strung out over 20 or 40 years.  

We need to figure out how to incentivize long term thinking as a matter of public policy.  The tax code can help in this regard.

—30—

PRODUCTIVITY: YSK about picking someone up at a crowded event

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

https://www.metlifestadium.com/getting-here/maps-diagrams

I recently turned a fun event for my fiancée into a disaster when I couldn’t pick her up promptly after the Paul McCartney concert ended.

I had studied the map and instructions about drop off and pick off.  I was very familiar with the venue giving that I’d live in the vicinity for decades.

So the drop off worked well. Lot C next to E.  And we agreed that’s where we would meet.

After dropping her off, I scouted the area and figured out where I could wait.  Got back about 10PM and the concert would end at 1030.  About 10:15, the crowd started to break. 

When I tried my path to the pickup, I found all roads blocked and made outbound only. Argh!  For the better part of an hour, I tried different ways to get to the pickup point.

Finally, I went with the flow and circled around the venue on connecting roads about 2 miles out. Then I tried to reenter closest to the pickup lot. Cut through a blocked gate with I moved and used a handicapped ramp break in the curbing to get to the rendezvous point 90 mintiest after the concert ended. Argh!

AFTER ACTION REPORT 

Found out that the parking lots were free after 8, so I could have just parked by the rendezvous point.

Upon reflection, I should have went to the rendezvous point long before traffic pattern was with to OUT ONLY.

All directions that I was given by the traffic folks was universally wrong except for the one guy who said: “You can’t there from here.”

Argh!

—30—

PRODUCTIVITY: Have the doctor “rat out” the old driver

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

https://www.state.nj.us/mvc/drivertopics/reportconcern.htm

Reporting A Concern 

Serious concerns about an individual’s driving skills can be reported to the MVC’s Medical Review Unit using the process described below. The Medical Review Unit screens and establishes cases based on referrals from medical professionals, police, courts, social workers and family members. Physicians are required by law to notify the MVC if patient suffers from a recurrent seizure, recurrent periods of unconsciousness or for impairment or loss of motor coordination due to conditions such as, but not limited to, epilepsy. (NJSA 39:3-10.4).

Anonymous reports cannot be accepted.

The American Medical Association (AMA) 1999 ethical guidelines states that all physicians are ethically responsible for notifying their state motor vehicle department if they believe a patient may not be able to drive safely.

In order to report a concern:

Write a letter detailing the motorist’s medical condition and as much of the following information as possible: name and address, driver license number and date of birth. Include your full name and address, your relationship to the driver and your observations regarding the person’s driving safety.

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Having ruined a family relationship by “taking away the keys”, when the situation arose gain, I recommended making the person’s doctor the villain in this particular morality play.

So what if you have spend a few extra eons in Purgatory for a “little white lie”, it’s better than an eternity in Hell for your part in maimin or killing someone.

—30—

PRODUCTIVITY: AMAZON strikes back at porch pirates

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https://www.reviewgeek.com/79942/amazon-expands-in-garage-grocery-delivery-to-curb-porch-pirates/

*** begin quote ***

Amazon said Tuesday that its in-garage grocery delivery service is expanding from just five cities to over 5,000. This is an extension of Key by Amazon, and those with Prime can have Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods grocery orders left directly in their garage.

*** end quote ***

I signed up for the “garage key” and it works.

BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), it can add a day to the delivery time.  I don’t understand why, but for high value items it’s seems an easy choice. 

Now they need a “car trunk” system.

—30—

PRODUCTIVITY: Low tech sometimes is better

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

https://central.myfax.com/help?mobile=n

I learned a long time ago when being a “patient advocate” that MOST times the best way to communicate with the “medicine men” aka modern day doctors was to use the fax machine.  Now I “know” that HIPPA prevents them from using plain old email; some have portals that they can communicate through, but nothing is as easy as a fax machine.  And, for some reason, perhaps because it’s not used a lot by patients, it seems to get special attention.  For example, when I call to get a prescription refill and jump through all the hoops, sometimes I get my refill.  I never get a call back to say that it’s been sent in; some docs actually tell you via recorded message that they ain’t calling you back. Argh!  (It’s like the unmonitored email boxes that email important info but you’re not important enough to take your reply. Argh!)

My fax is $10 per month and works flawlessly.  I get nothing from them other Han good service YMMV.

So just today, I had another opportunity to show myself the value of this low tech solution.  I had to go to the radiology lab again, never mind why my first visit was screwed up, and, on the prior visit they gave me their SEVEN page form to fill out at home.  Being a high tech guy, I scanned it in and did it “online”.  But, I forgot to print out the results. So today, when I arrived at the lab, I asked for their fax number, bridged my computer to my cell phone, and got my fax to send the complete form into the lab.  Problem solved.

So I recommend keeping this particular “arrow” in your quiver!

—30—

 

PRODUCTIVITY: Grab PDFs of products

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http://recomendo.com/issues/calendly-mark-hard-to-reach-places-website-status-check-103817

Get PDF first

Owner manuals and installation guides contain far more information about a product than either the sales brochure, the online descriptions, or even Amazon reviews. The manual will have exact dimensions, all the parts, and caveats about what it can’t do. So my rule of thumb these days is to always download the product’s manual before I purchase the item. Impossible in the old pre-internet days, it’s a no-brainer today. It has saved me many times. Regrettably, not 100% of product have manuals PDFs that are findable, but the better products do. — KK

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Here’s a great idea. Need to do this as a regular habit.

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POLITICAL: Pocahontas or Fauxahontas?

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http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/02/14/elizabeth-warren-lies-about-her-heritage-again-at-tribal-nations-summit-my-mothers-family-was-part-native-american/

Elizabeth Warren Lies About Her Heritage Again at Tribal Nations Summit: ‘My Mother’s Family Was Part Native American’
by MICHAEL PATRICK LEAHY 14 Feb 20187,325

*** begin quote ***

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has once again made the false claim that she has Native American ancestry.
“My mother’s family was part Native American,” she said in a speech to the National Congress of American Indians Tribal Nations Policy Summit in Washington, D.C, on Wednesday, according to prepared text provided to the Boston Globe.

*** and ***

“The New England Historical Genealogical Society, which originally announced they found evidence of Elizabeth Warren’s Native American heritage, said today they have discovered no documentation to back up claims that she is 1/32 Cherokee,” the Boston Herald reported in May 2012.

The Herald reported:

‘NEHGS has not expressed a position on whether Mrs. Warren has Native American ancestry, nor do we possess any primary sources to prove that she is,” said Tom Champoux, spokesman for the NEHGS. “We have no proof that Elizabeth Warren’s great great great grandmother O.C. Sarah Smith [Crawford] either is or is not of Cherokee descent.’”
As Breitbart News reported, Warren does descend from O.C. Sarah Smith Crawford’s husband, Jonathan Crawford, who was a member of the Tennessee Militia that rounded up Cherokee tribe members in the 1830s for the Trail of Tears to Oklahoma.

“You won’t find my family members on any rolls, and I’m not enrolled in a tribe,” Warren conceded, but added, ” I never used my family tree to get a break or get ahead. I never used it to advance my career.”

As Breitbart News reported previously, however, beginning in 1986 and continuing into 1995, Warren claimed that she had minority status in the Association of American Law Schools directory.

Those claims began while she was a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and were part of her job application submitted that ended in her hiring on the faculty of Harvard Law School.

*** end quote ***

How do you know when a politician is lying?

Aside from her wacky lunatic left ideas and proposals, this claim needs to “have a stake put in its heart”.

She clearly used “minority status” to advance her career.

We can, and should, eliminate all the “minority preferences” in the Gooferment as unConstitional.

End Gooferment Skrules and we’ll have solved the probem once and for all.

Who cares what “minority” anyone is? We’re all minorities in some way or another.

Just give each other the respect, freedom, and liberty to each other that we want for ourselves.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Doing the “Ben Franklin”!

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

… look for “evidence”. Not “emotion”.

Everyone needs a “Devil’s Advocate”?

I have two hats. One says “mets” and the other “yankees”. The “yankees” (“my” team of millionaires playing for grazillionaire George) are the pro. The mets con.

Put on your yankee hat and make every possible argument in favor. Everyone.

Put on your mets hat and make every argument against. Even all the tears caused.

Then, do a Ben Franklin. That is stoke out equivalents. “Bathes regularly” balances “forgets wallet”. “kind to his mom” balances “my parents hate him”.

See what is left.

I’ll bet on the Mets in your specific case.

;-)

fjohn68

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An old old email to a  youngfriend trying to pick a future mate. 

I don’t know if she used my “methodology”, but she’s still single.

(ALL the young men are crazy not to “ring” her, imho.)

Laugh!

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PRODUCTIVITY: Overcoming constraints

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://changethis.com/34.02.Romans

Click to access 34.02.Romans.pdf

What the Romans Didn’t Know: Overcoming Personal Constraints to Achieve Higher Performance and Fulfillment By Flip Flippen

*** begin quote ***

Do you really think Tiger Woods logs practice hours just to maintain what comes easiest to him? Flip Flippen argues that it’s your weaknesses hold you back from achieving your personal best. Here, he provides a method to identifying your weaknesses and eliminating them.

*** end quote ***

PRODUCTIVITY: Email overload

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://changethis.com/34.04.LowInfo

Click to access 34.04.LowInfo.pdf

The Low-Information Diet: How to Eliminate E-Mail Overload and Improve Productivity By Tim Ferriss

*** begin quote ***

It’s Monday morning and your To-Do list for the day is lengthy. You turn on your computer, log into your inbox, and…spend the next six hours starting, stopping and backtracking, your To-Do list untouched. Tim Ferriss offers immediate solutions to improve your productivity and quiet the constant information interference.

*** end quote ***

PRODUCTIVITY: People don’t read

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://changethis.com/34.03.BooksFalling

Click to access 34.03.BooksFalling.pdf

With Books Falling From the Sky: A Discourse on Literacy By Roxanne Coady

*** begin quote ***

49% percent of the adult population of the United States reads below a sixth-grade level and has difficulty navigating such common demands as reading job applications, ATM screens, and outpatient care instructions. In this evocative manifesto, Roxanne Coady, calls for change and suggests how you can improve the lives of others through promoting literacy in your community.

*** end quote ***

PRODUCTIVITY: Just a little further

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://changethis.com/34.01.TheDip

Click to access 34.01.TheDip.pdf

Pushing Past the Dip: How to Become the Best in the World By Seth Godin

*** begin quote ***

The long, tough slog through mediocre-ville. To be the best, Seth Godin explains, you must concentrate your effort, push a little harder, commit a few more resources and leave mediocre to those willing to be average.

*** end quote ***

PRODUCTIVITY: Stop multitasking!

Published on by reinkefj1 Comment

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/05/04/multitasking-is-actually-kind-of-problem-for-kids-and-adults/

The SwitchMultitasking is actually kind of a problem — for kids and adults
By Hayley Tsukayama May 4 

*** begin quote ***

Parental advocacy group Common Sense Media came out with a new study Tuesday that looks at how parents and their children view their own media habits — and whether they feel as if they’re “addicted” to their screens.

But it also takes aim at another common modern behavior: multitasking.

Chances are that we all multitask. (Case in point: In the course of writing this post, I have taken four calls for three stories, sent seven emails and participated in two work chats.) It has become easier than ever with the advent of new technologies that let us juggle screens — and even multiple things on each of those screens.

*** end quote ***

I am writing this while watching TV.

Maybe I need to change?

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PRODUCTIVITY: Manage things, lead people

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

2015-Oct-18

http://takimag.com/article/flying_off_the_handle_theodore_dalrymple/print#disqus_thread

Flying Off the Handle
by Theodore Dalrymple 
October 10, 2015

*** begin quote *** 

I am no great admirer of management as a science or of managers as people. The latter tend to speak a strange language, a jargon neither elegant nor poetic; they buy very dull books at airports, they are often shifty and ruthless, and they seem to me to live in a constant condition of bad faith. They are bureaucrats pretending to be entrepreneurs even when they work for the state, an organization that secures its solvency by the simple expediency of printing more money—in fact, not even by printing it anymore, simply by adding a few naughts on computer screens. We live in a regime of paper money without the paper.

*** end quote ***

As a fat old white guy injineer, who has been “managing” for a long time, I learned from my first boss at AT&T that “You manage things, but lead people.” Hence, I think there is “science” in managing things (i.e., projects; processes; technology; etc. etc.). But the minute, one attempts the “Human Resources” approach of “managing” people, you are doomed to failure. Argh!

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PRODUCTIVITY: GMAIL Compose Page

Published on by reinkefj2 Comments

http://icetothebrim.com/2014/textexpander-snippet-gmail-compose-page-without-inbox-plus-thoughts-email/

TextExpander Snippet for Gmail Compose Page (without inbox) — plus some thoughts on email
It’s finally happened: my inbox has become a problem. More on this below.

But first, here’s a lil’ textexpander snippet to take you to a compose message for your gmail account WITHOUT pulling up the inbox… helpful when, like me, you get sucked into the incessant sucking sound of your inbox.

https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1%key:enter%

Set that up for something like ;gmc (for GMail Compose) and use it when you write an email instead of opening up your inbox.

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I’ve stolen this idea.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Keep records

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

“Everything is an idea for something, something that touches the imagination, a fact that seems relevant or maybe just a statement I find interesting — either because it resonates or because I disagree. All of it is fodder for continued work or thinking on the topics. It’s also important to me to record the ideas that my instincts tell me are bad.”

 
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PRODUCTIVITY: Roles for meetings

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.designstaff.org/articles/always-be-capturing-2013-02-22.html

A tip for effective meetings: Always be capturing
Joshua Porter/Director of UX, HubSpot

*** begin quote ***

At HubSpot, we recently did a product design sprint with the Google Ventures Design Studio. It was a great experience, not only to work alongside a team of highly accomplished designers, but to observe their design process and how they proceed through a project.

Our design team learned a lot from Google Ventures. We learned about designing quickly. We learned about keeping laser focus on the goals of a project. We learned about keeping the scope as small as possible (but no smaller). But one of the most powerful things we learned was a simple lesson that applies to way more than design: Always be capturing.

“Always be capturing” is about the habit of continuously recording the value from your conversation. For example: If you’re talking about a new concept, you should be sketching it as you talk so your team has a shared understanding and an artifact of the conversation.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

I’ve tried … …

(“NO! … Try not! … Do or do not… there is no try.” (To do it justice, you must say the word try with all the revulsion and disgust you can put on it. Like you were talking about a rapist, a child murderer, or a politician!) — Yoda (Fictional character from George Lucas’s “Star Wars” movie)

… … to change the culture about meetings!

I might as well be speaking Greek — scrums, huddles, meetings — to redefine the bad behavior.

“Camp fires” where everyone sits around and tells stories and departs with no “totem poles” erected to memorialize anything.

Argh!

Amazing how undisciplined modern corporations are and then they are surprised when they gon’t get the results that they want.

Sigh!

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PRODUCTIVITY: One way to KILL it

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/02/23/1634244/mayer-terminates-yahoos-remote-employee-policy?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed

Mayer Terminates Yahoo’s Remote Employee Policy
Posted by timothy on Saturday February 23, @11:34AM
from the gonna-ask-you-to-come-in-on-saaaaaturday dept.
An anonymous reader writes
“AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher reported and tweeted that Marissa Mayer (CEO since July 2012) has just sent an all-hands email ending Yahoo’s policy of allowing remote employees. Hundreds of workers have been given the choice: start showing up for work at HQ (which would require relocation in many cases), or resign. (They can forget about Yahoo advice pieces like this). Mayer has also been putting her stamp on Yahoo’s new home page, which was rolled out Wednesday.”

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Because if you can’t see people working, there’s just no other way to manage them.

I’d feel the stock!

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PRODUCTIVITY: Drainers

Published on by reinkefj1 Comment

http://eblingroup.com/2013/01/how-to-get-rid-of-the-things-that-drain-you.html

A humorous exercise. For me it’s clutter, and birthday / holidays / anniversaries! Drains my battery to zero in nothing flat.

This recent Christmas, I screwed up sending money to the “children”. I had a budget, took out the requisite cash, filled envelopes, and sent them out in three waves. And, discovered I had an odd amount left over. So I took it and went to the American Legion to ponder what to do. That eliminated the problem. Bottom line: no one got an empty envelope, so in that sense, no reportable problem. Further, since it was “found money” for the receivers, no one knew I screwed up. Next year, I’m using Paytrust my bill payment service. Nice an impersonal and un screw up able. Everyone will be happy! And it won’t “drain my battery”.

I’m also scanning all loose paper into Evernote and / or Dropbox. By sometime next year, all my paper will be electrons somewhere in the cloud. No clutter to distract and drain me.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Intergenerational war

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://changethis.com/34.05.Generational

Click to access 34.05.Generational.pdf

Turning the Generational Dial: A Plea to Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y By Carol Orsborn, PhD

*** begin quote ***

Carol Orsborn argues that instead of participating in a complicated generational tug-of-war of who is more relevant, Gen X and Gen Y must learn from Boomers because these following generations will also face the same elongated lifespans and increased vitality…and buying power.

*** end quote ***

Interesting that today’s Gooferment fiscal stupidity is a direct assault on the future generations’ pocketbooks and wallets.

And they don’t see it.

Or they don’t understand.

Argh!

–30–

PRODUCTIVITY: Open Source Textbook Library

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http://dp.la/2012/10/03/california-establishes-open-source-textbook-library-for-students/

California Establishes Open Source Textbook Library for Students
Posted by Carly Boxer on October 3, 2012 in Blog, Featured.

*** begin quote ***

This past Thursday, September 27th, the California State Senate approved two bills aimed at increasing access to and decreasing the financial burden of textbooks for students at California state postsecondary institutions.

The first bill, SB 1052, mandates the creation of 50 digital open source textbooks. In order to do so, SB 1052 establishes the 9 member California Open Education Resources Council; this council is responsible for identifying the 50 lower-division courses at California state universities and community colleges for which low-cost, open source textbooks will be developed. The council, comprised of faculty representatives from University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges, would also establish a “competitive request-for-proposal process in which faculty members, publishers, and other interested parties would apply for funds” in order to produce textbook content.

*** end quote ***

Excuse me, but aren’t all those faculty members on the public payroll already?

If the Gooferment Skrules are an “education factory”, should the “educators” produce their own textbooks.

Programmers write documentation.

Executives write reports.

Scientists publish papers.

Why the difference?

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PRODUCTIVITY: DROPBOX response; “drugs in prison”

Published on by reinkefj1 Comment

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2012/08/should-your-company-just-say-no-to-dropbox.php

Should Your Company Just Say “No” To Dropbox?
Brian Proffitt

*** Begin Quote ***

As the business world increasingly turns to mobile devices and cloud-based file-sharing services to store or collaborate on important documents, the amount of information that’s falling into the wrong hands keeps climbing.

The numbers tell the tale: 90% of organizations had a leak of sensitive or confidential information over the past year. That’s one of the take-aways from a new study from security analysts at the Ponemon Institute.

Dropbox Is Useful – And That’s The Problem

Services like Dropbox, Bitcasa, YouSendIt and others are useful and efficient ways to get documents and files from one worker to another, especially in this age of mobile devices and distributed workforces. Plus, they’re cheap (or free) and easy for individual workers or small departments to set up.

But increasing use of these tools in the workplace, even for legitimate business reasons such as collaboration, puts a lot of private information at risk. And companies are starting to notice.

How bad is the situation? According to the Ponemon study, 60% of organizations have employees who frequently or very frequently put confidential files on services like Dropbox without permission. And just about that same percentage (59%) reported that what controls they do have in place were ineffective at managing who has access to sensitive files.

*** and ***

Some companies are already reacting with strong policies regulating use of such file-sharing services. IBM, for instance, has banned employee access to services like Dropbox and iCloud. Even the iPhone’s Siri is turned off for fear that sensitive information could be discovered from search query data stored at Apple.

This might be going too far for many companies. Especially if they don’t provide some sort of alternative. IBM has its own custom-built solution for file sharing, but many smaller operations can’t afford such measures.

*** End quote ***

Sure, that’s going to stop the practice.

Every hear of encryption.

Sensitive file? Run it thru PKZIP.

Use LASTPASS to select a 97 character password to encrypt it.

Problem solved.

Argh!

IMHO the rule should be if you can’t able it; you can’t ban it.

Bans don’t work.

Why?

“Drugs in Prison”!

The human being is the world’s best “rat” in terms of adaptability and maze solving.

Tell some one they can’t in an obnoxious enough fashion, and they will spend every waking hour proving you’re wrong.

Enable the behavior in a secure fashion.

Security should never say “no”; they should say “yes, and here’ s how to do it”.

Argh!

*****

POLITICAL: Jury duty IS slavery!

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

FROM FACEBOOK

Stephen E. Phelps Jr.:

I probably won’t be buying her book. -Denver juror who lied to get out of duty arrested after bragging about it months later on talk radiowww.denverpost.comJuror No. 4361 was a wreck. Her hair hung askew in curlers. Her shoes and reindeer socks mismatched. Heavy makeup was smeared on her face.

Thursday, March 22 at 1:48pm near Orlando, FL

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http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_20227775

Cops and Courts
Denver juror who lied to get out of duty arrested after bragging about it months later on talk radio
Posted:   03/22/2012 01:00:00 AM MDT Updated:   03/22/2012 06:08:31 AM MDT
By Jessica Fender The Denver Post

*** begin quote ***

Juror No. 4361 was a wreck.

Her hair hung askew in curlers. Her shoes and reindeer socks mismatched. Heavy makeup was smeared on her face.
Denver District Court Judge Anne Mansfield — presiding over jury selection June 28 — quickly dismissed the woman, who explained in disjointed speech, “I broke out of domestic violence in the military. And I have a lot of repercussions. One is post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Now Juror No. 4361 — published author and Denver cosmetologist Susan Cole — faces felony charges after allegedly bragging months later on a radio program that she fabricated the elaborate ruse to duck jury duty.
Turns out, Judge Mansfield was listening.

The Denver District Attorney’s Office today charged Cole, 57, with perjury and attempting to influence a public servant, both Class 4 felonies.

*** end quote ***

Didn’t the 16th outlaw slavery? And before you raise the issue of the duties of a “citizen”, consider three things:

(1) The relation between a “citizen” and “his” Government is an exchange. The supposed citizen exchanges his loyalty for the Government’s protection. How has the US Government lived up to its side of the Faustian bargain? It’s own courts have held that the Government has NO specific duty to protect an individual citizen. Thus it has abrogated unilaterally this tacit agreement.

(2) How was this person’s obligation for “jury duty” instantiated? Did they sign a contract? Give their word (I.e., an oath of allegiance by some one seeking citizenship)? How? Just an accident of birth can’t indenture a servant for life.

(3) As a practical matter, do you really want people on a jury who don’t want to serve? I want people who will protect me from the Gooferment! Jury nullifiers who will hold the State to a high standard of proof. Punish those who infringe on the rights of their victims, abslolutely. But it has to be beyond a reasonable doubt by a government with clean hands. Think duke lacrosse. Or victimless crimes like prostitution.

Hence, I think this person is an object lesson for of us.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Track your vacinations?

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/08/tetanus_a_nasty_fascinating_bu.html

Tetanus: A Nasty, Fascinating Bug, by Dr. Bob

By James Wesley, Rawles on August 15, 2011 12:25 AM

*** begin quote ***

Nearly everyone has heard of the famous “lockjaw”, but not everyone knows that the cause is tetanus infection. Even fewer people have actually seen a case of tetanus, even in the medical circles it is a rare event in the U.S. There are only 233 cases reported from 2001 to 2008–or 1/10,000,000. Deaths are even more rare here in the States, and of those 233, 31 were fatalities. Most deaths were people over 65, presumed to be less than optimally immunized.

*** and ***

Don’t go the way of blues musician Joe Hill Louis, Henry David Thoreau’s brother, and Robert E. Lee’s favorite horse Traveller–all dying of tetanus. Keep up with your vaccinations and get your kids vaccinated too against tetanus. Kids start at two months of age getting a Tdap shot, don’t miss this chance to protect your child.

Stay strong and stay vaccinated against tetanus.

*** end quote ***

Does anyone even keep track of their vaccinations?

www.nfid.org/pdf/influenza/adultizcard.pdf

Put your card with your passport?

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PRODUCTIVITY: Vague? Accuracy and precision

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

http://lifehacker.com/5829224/how-embracing-vagueness-can-help-you-achieve-your-goals

How Embracing Vagueness Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

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We live in a world or precision where data-generating technology is available for practically aspect of your life. We’re also bombarded by tools to help us plan everything down to the smallest detail. But without uncertainty you’re stuck in a place where you always think you know the answer, and this can be a major encumbrance when you’re trying to get things done.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision

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False precision (also called overprecision, fake precision, misplaced precision and spurious accuracy) occurs when numerical data are presented in a manner that implies better precision than is actually the case; since precision is a limit to accuracy, this often leads to overconfidence in the accuracy as well.[1]

In science and engineering, convention dictates that unless a margin of error is explicitly stated, the number of significant figures used in the presentation of data should be limited to what is warranted by the precision of those data. For example, if an instrument can be read to an accuracy of tenths of a unit of measurement, results of calculations using data obtained from that instrument can only be confidently stated to the tenths place, regardless of what the raw calculation returns or whether other data used in the calculation are more accurate. Even outside these disciplines, there is a tendency to assume that all the non-zero digits of a number are meaningful; thus, providing excessive figures may lead the viewer to expect better precision than actually exists.

However, in contrast, it is good practice to retain more significant figures than this in the intermediate stages of a calculation, in order to avoid accumulated rounding errors.

False precision commonly arises when high-precision and low-precision data are combined, and in conversion of units.

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I can remember a wise old Christian Brother in injineering skrule saying: “Gentlemen, … <he always used it perjoratively> … you will make blunders, mistakes, and errors, but a sure way to get an F in injineering measurements is to tell me that anything that is ⅓ is .333333333333333.” False precision in injineering is like goal and objectives that aren’t vague enough to stretch.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Always have a email account to spare?

Published on by reinkefjLeave a comment

No secret I use a lot of email accounts. For a purpose. For a community. For relatives. For friends. For projects.

Interesting that some ISPs (i.e., Saint Peter’s University Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital) offer free wifi.

Unfortunately, like most things you get for “free”, they both have their own “unique” opportunities.

Not everyone has a VWBBIE (i.e., a Verizon Wireless Broad Band Service for 70$/month) or an IPAD with the AT&T 3G turned on!

SPUH doesn’t permit email. I chatted with a fellow nerd from a past employment and he had no idea why or even who “decreed” this. But the diktat couldn’t be overturned.

Now clearly with web access, you can use the web front end that most email providers have. But that’s not a very efficient or effective imho. Your really want a unified mailbox for the different account with the capability to send from the correct account.

GMAIL to the rescue.

It was trivial to set this up so that “emergency” could read and write in the “important” accounts.

Now when I need it, I have it.

Kudos to GMAIL.

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