JOBSEARCH: More explanation of UVP and USP

Thursday, September 20, 2012

baby turkey> What do you think of a career in information security it seems like that’s were all the money is these days

fat old white guy injineer> depends upon what you want to be when you grow up

baby turkey> U lost me there?

fat old white guy injineer> …

<<< snip of my response>>>

Strategically, I believe the model of “employment” for your generation is to have (a) multiple streams of income — we can discuss at that length what that means; (b) one or more web based businesses <your ‘store’ is always open>; and (c) ruthless financial management <no short term “bad” debt, a manageable amount of “good” long term debt, holding such financial assets as is consistent with your age and sufficient with your plans; and (d) a WRITTEN set of plans that map out your “needs, wants, and desires”.

Tactically, imho, your plans should capitalize on your excellent english language skills and your XXXXXX heritage. Unfortunately, I think you have a broad streak of what I’ll call “gold watch” thinking. You value yourself in terms of your salaried employment. That’s what I call the “gold watch” trap. People, especially ALL the fat old white guy turkeys I have counseled, share that delusion. Rarely do the goals of employer and employee align. Employees are fooled into thinking the employment relationships are more than they are (i.e., a value exchange). Specifically, an employee created value for the employer and retains some of that value as compensation. Continued creation; continued employment. What the employees are deluded into thinking is that the motivations of employee and employer are tightly coupled. The employee believes that as long as a “good job” is done that paycheck will keep coming in. When, in fact, the “good job done” is almost irrelevant. External forces, internal forces, changing marketplaces, changing priorities, results, and sometimes whims mean more to the “value exchange” than a “good job”. Even a “well done” one.

Does that make sense to you?

So how do you action that?

Focus on your value equation. Focus on your plans. Focus on YOUR results.

The XXXXX slant is part of your Unique Value Propositions (value created and value retained). And, your Unique Sales Propositions (how do I communicate that to others).

<<< perhaps to be continued >>>

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | JOBSEARCH | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

JOBSEARCH: Branding versus UVP / USP

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

8 Tips for Managing Your Personal Brand
via Change This Manifesto Issues by Rodger Dean Duncan on 9/12/12

“Face it. For good or ill, you have a personal brand. In fact, in the eyes of others, you are your personal brand. Just like some retailers are known for great customer service and some airlines are known for lost luggage and surly gate agents, you are known for the your own combination of personality, behavior, and presence. It’s your brand.

If you come across as empathic and approachable, that’s part of your brand. If you sometimes miss deadlines and let other commitments slide, that’s part of your brand.

Your reputation is your brand. Your brand is your reputation. And it makes a world of difference in every relationship you have.”

# – # – # – # – #   

FROM A MARKETING TYPE

I like it. I told the students just the other day that they get a chance to create their own definition of themselves every day. It followed on a discussion of Esso picking the name Exxon because it meant nothing in any language so the firm could make its own definition of that combination of letters.

# – # – # – # – #   

MY RESPONSE

While you can brand sand, I still don’t think you can brand people. As a matter of fact, I tell anyone who listens that if folks who spend all this time on “branding” spent as much time on their Unique Value Equations and Unique Sales Propositions, they’d be better served.

It’s all about — as far as human beings are concerned — about communicating “value”. UVP what do you give buyer and what do you retain for yourself and USP how do you communicate it.

Coke and Pepsi need branding; people can’t. Other than “burger flippers”, they are not interchangable.

# – # – # – # – #    

Leave a Comment » | JOBSEARCH | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: 80% of doctors are expendable

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

http://www.impactlab.net/2012/09/11/technology-will-replace-80-of-doctors-vinod-khosla/

September 11th, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Technology will replace 80% of doctors: Vinod Khosla

*** begin quote ***

Health care must be more data driven and about wellness, not sick care.

Eighty percent of doctors could be replaced by machines.

Khosla assured the audience that being part of the health care system was a burden and disadvantage. To disrupt health care, entrepreneurs do not need to be part of the system or status quo. He cited the example of CEO Jack Dorsey of Square (a wireless payment system allowing anyone to accept credit cards rather than setup a more costly corporate account with Visa / MasterCard) who reflected in a Wired magazine article that the ability to disrupt the electronic payment system which had stymied others for years was because of the 250 employees at Square, only 5 ever worked in that industry.

hosla believed that patients would be better off getting diagnosed by a machine than by doctors. Creating such a system was a simple problem to solve. Google’s development of a driverless smart car was “two orders of magnitude more complex” than providing the right diagnosis. A good machine learning system not only would be cheaper, more accurate and objective, but also effectively replace 80 percent of doctors simply by being better than the average doctor. To do so, the level of machine expertise would need to be in the 80th percentile of doctors’ expertise.

*** and ***

Can we do better in being more reliable, consistent, and creating a system process and design that is comparable to highly reliable organizations and industries? Of course. Can we be more systematic and doing the right things every patient every time on areas where the science is known to level of the molecule? Yes. Care must be incredibly simple to access, extremely convenient and intensely personal.

*** end quote *** 

Well, I am not a fan of America’s current “health care” system. Unless you’re trying to change it to the “socialized medicine” system found in the UK, Canada, and Europe.

I want improvement; not a retro grade or down grade to something worse.

And, of course, I think to the way to that is with less Gooferment and more liberty freedom.

After watching Deep Blue play Jeopardy, it’s seems possible. Doctor House could be a less smelly less crazy diagnostician. I’d have  gladly liked my wife’s case presented to Doctor Deep Blue. It couldn’t have had a worse outcome. 

Then look at all the regulation and costs imposed by that regulation.

The FDA, Medicare / Medicaid, Doctor licensing, Nurse Licensing, Pharmacist Licensing, Pharmacy regulation, Hospital regulation, Insurance regulation, State regulation, Federal regulation, financial regulation, tax code manipulation, Medical education regulation, anti-trust legislation that allows the AMA a monopoly, …  

Did I miss any?

Sigh!

How do we get out of this mess?

Let people make mistakes. Shade tree mechanics. Turn it over to WalMart.

Medicine should be patient driven.

Look at pet care. Competitive. “Cheap”. Easily found. No forms. No real regulation.

Imagine if a Nurse could have her own “practice”. Finding sick people and getting them to the doctor or hospital. Physician’s assistants would be an extension of the system. Everyone says early detection is crucial to good outcomes. Everyone says that rapid care is essential to good outcomes. Everyone says that over use of the ER is driving up costs and wait times. 

Yada, yada, yada …

It could be so much better.

# – # – # – # – #   

1 Comment | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TINFOILHAT: Obama birth certificate forged … “the PDF document has been altered”

Monday, September 17, 2012

http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/israeli-science-website-obama-birth-certificate-forged/?cat_orig=politics

Israeli science website: Obama birth certificate forged
Award-winning, former Netanyahu adviser behind assessment
Jerome R. Corsi, a Harvard Ph.D., is a WND senior staff reporter. He has authored many books, including No. 1 N.Y. Times best-sellers “The Obama Nation” and “Unfit for Command.” Corsi’s latest book is “Where’s the REAL Birth Certificate?”

*** begin quote ***

Hanukoglu, an award-winning researcher, is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Department of Molecular Biology at Ariel University Center of Samaria in Ariel, Israel.

The professor established the first version of his website during his tenure as Netanyahu’s science adviser. The site has evolved into “the premier science and technology portal for Israel.”

The website says that the White House’s release of the Obama document in April 2011, after years of controversy, “raised in our minds the possibility that there could be something suspicious about the information available on this document.”

The website conducted an independent analysis and cites others who came to the same conclusion.

The website says the publication “of such a blatantly fake document about something so basic as the birthplace of Mr. Obama, should raise great concern about the suitability of the person who is holding the reigns on the most powerful country of the World.”

*** and ***

The missing ’1′

Utilizing the software program Foxit Reader version 4.3.1, the Israel Science and Technology website examined the PDF file posted by the White House April 27, 2011, and found that the last digit of the birth certificate’s number, 61 10841, disappears under 800-percent magnification.

Also, the font of the last digit is different from the other digits.

“This is only one example,” the Israelis concluded after examining the birth certificate number. “Many more examples can be discovered by examining magnified document with full page view of the document.”

Conclusion: “In brief, this simple analysis using just a viewing software reveals that the PDF document has been altered by a graphics software.”

*** end quote ***

I’m a “proofer”; rather than a “birthed”.

Maybe a nuance.

The difference is that I don’t pretend to know where the man was born. And, frankly, I don’t much care.

What I do care about is the obfuscation, forgery, and outright lying.

As President, like Caesar’s wife, must be above reproach.

For him to permit this nonsense to go on casts a pall over him.

If there was no certificate, just say so. If the records confused, just say so. If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.

Presenting a falsified document in your name makes the whole matter suspect.

This may be “smoke”, but when you add on the absolute lack of documentation about his travels, his school records, and all sorts of other documents, makes me think “fire”. The fake social security number is just the final nail in the coffin.

The only rational explanation I’ve heard is that he came in as a “foreign student”.

If it’s being a tin foil hat to call for an accounting, then I proudly claim that as a badge of honor.

# – # – # – # – #   

5 Comments | TINFOILHAT | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Why Public School Unions Strike

Sunday, September 16, 2012

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/chicago-and-why-public-school-unions-strike/

Chicago, and Why Public School Unions Strike
Posted by Andrew J. Coulson
Source: Chicago Tribune

*** begin quote ***

Chicago’s teachers have just walked off the job, and most of the media coverage is quick to point out that this is the city’s first strike in a generation. But is anyone really that surprised by a public school union striking just as kids are supposed to be heading back to class in September? Wouldn’t you be a lot more shocked if you logged on to Amazon.com and were greeted by the message that its site was down due to an employee walkout? Or if you took the kids to the movies to see the latest cartoon extravaganza and found picketing ticket-takers? What is it about public schools—and other government enterprises, for that matter—that have made their unions so much more dominant than those in the private sector? [Two thirds of the public school workforce is unionized compared to about 7 percent in the private sector].

Competitors. Or, rather, the lack of them. Private sector workers can only demand so much from their companies before the demands become self-defeating. Get a pension package that’s too cushy, a salary that’s too far above the market rate, and the employer will have to pass those costs on to customers. And if those higher prices aren’t accompanied by correspondingly better quality, customers will simply go elsewhere—hurting the employees who asked for more than the market would bear.

*** and ***

In the absence of real private sector competition and parental choice, public school unions have been able to drive up the system’s costs without needing to show improvement in performance. Sooner or later, Illinois will adopt a system, like education tax credits, that provides real choice and competition, because the current system will ultimately bankrupt the state.

*** end quote ***

I don’t understand why schools are ANY different than fast food.

I spend no resources about planning for my “burger needs” and the invisible hand of the (relatively) free market provisions three choices within a mile or two of my house. And, they battle ferociously for my business.

Why are “public goods” any different?

Because we’ve let the ruling class convince us that we can’t live without their benign beneficial leadership for which they extract a life of leisure.

Argh!

Sam Walmart revolutionized retailing for which he was well rewarded. Pick out ANY one of the myriad of politicians and bureaucrats, what have they accomplished for you?

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

JOBFINDiNG: VP IT NJ Insurance

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Dear John,

We are currently recruiting for a Vice President of Information Technology for our client, a major insurance company in the Warren, NJ area.

Primary Responsibilities:
o Planning, implementing and supporting insurance systems in a complex distributed IT environment.
o Developing and maintaining policies and standards aimed at maximizing effectiveness and minimizing costs related to the acquisition, implementation and operation of IT systems.
o Maintaining a rigorous Sarbanes-Oxley control environment.
o Providing leadership for day-to-day production operations, in addition to long-range project work.

Job Qualifications
o Minimum of 10 years of experience in insurance information systems and information technology and has directly reported to CIOs in the past; direct management of a major insurance IT operation is preferred.
o Must possess knowledge of commercial property and casualty insurance – insurance experience should include such product lines as Workers’ Comp; Program Business, General Liability; Excess Casualty; Specialty Lines including Financial Institutions, Directors & Officers Liability; Environmental Insurance, etc.
o Demonstrated ability to function in a fast-paced, high performance environment.
o Project management / IT leadership – Strategic Planning, establishing and managing priorities, negotiating with vendors, contractors and others, and budgeting.
o Responsible for managing 60 IT professionals.

Salary: $190,000 – $225,000 plus bonus eligibility

This client offers a dynamic work environment and a competitive compensation and benefit package; which includes a 401k plan, retirement/savings option, tuition reimbursement, medical, dental, vision, life and group legal plans.

If you are qualified, available, interested, or planning to make a change, please reply to this e-mail with a copy of your latest resume, even if we have spoken recently about a different position.

If you are not currently seeking employment and know someone who may be, please feel free to forward my email to them or email me with their contact information. I will contact them directly.

Thanks much,

Robin E. Mills
Technical Recruiter
Search EDP Inc.
RMills@SearchEDP.com

http://www.SearchEDP.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/robinemills

‘Be kinder than necessary, because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.’

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | JOBFINDING | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

MONEY: Don’t think your employer pays anything; you do!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Ignore taxes and benefits and anything other than the value equation.

Assume for a minute that an employee generate $100 of value for an employer.

And, that is the basis of the deal they strike.

Let’s say the employer is generous and give the employee ½ and keeps the other ½.

Employee winds up with $50.

Now lets factor in ONLY social security tax. (12.4% “split” 50/50)

Same value equation.

The $50 “earned” by the employee.

$6.20 split 50/50? 3.60 each.

So the employee gets $46.40, the Gooferment gets $6.20, and the employer retains a value of $46.40.

If to do the deal the employee has to give the employer $50 of value, then the employee has to be willing to take less.

So the employee has to be willing to take $43.80 so that the employer gets $50.

Cut through the illusion that the employer “pays half”!

The employee’s value equation is reduced by the tax that the employer pays.

Each deduction from your pay obviously you pay. But, every dollar your employer puts out on your behalf, ALSO, comes out of YOUR pocket.

Benefits are a bigger scam.

Remember that EVERYTHING comes out of your (the employee’s side of the value equation).

So any benefit that the employer “gives” you, you’re paying for.

And, for example, in the case of health benefits, the employer gets a tax deduction.

But, if you buy them, you don’t. (Yeah schedule A maybe after the % take back.)

How about life insurance? Same thing! They get a tax deduction on your money. And, that’s not deductible to you ever.

Argh!

It’s a rigged game and employees think the employer is being “magnanimous”.

Every item is like that: pension, 401k contribution, … everything has an angle that favors the employer.

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

LIBERTY: I OWN my own body!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

http://ncc-1776.org/tle2012/tle686-20120902-05.html

Self-Ownership
by Cassandra C. Grissom and Sean N. Gruber
Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

*** begin quote ***

America has become a statist, freedom-hating, catch-phrase espousing, ignorant, and nightmarish shadow of its own, once great, (though still flawed) self. And the easiest way that we can think to prove this claim, follows:

I OWN my own body! Ownership means; dominion! I control or don’t, I choose or don’t, I determine or don’t, every single facet of my controllable conscious existence. I’m limited by nothing but reality and the respect of others same right to the lack of said limitations.

*** and ***

The “government” claims dominion over you every time it demands an ID from you to buy alcohol! It claims dominion over you every time it demands a card from your doctor to buy marijuana or to get a permit to carry a gun! It claims dominion every time is assumes it has a rightful place in your medical business! It claims dominion every time is supposes it knows how to better prepare you for your retirement. It claims dominion every time it suggests or demands of you whom to kill or whom to die for. And it insults all of us to a point of intolerable degradation when it locks up people who video record its agents (the cop’s) violating the few limitations it still purports to impose upon itself!

The state is controlling your body and what you can and cannot do with it. They have already invoked a weird version of right-wing state socialism, and a total left-wing Nazi police state is quick on its heels. The powers that be are laughing because most Americans haven’t the faintest idea what is actually going on. They seem to know something is wrong, but being philosophically crippled as they are (thanks to the public school system) they haven’t the faintest idea how to determine the cause. In public school you are taught that the “government” is your friend, you are taught that “rights come from “government” that it’s okay to skip the two when you count to ten during the Bill of Rights. You are taught to bow down and lick the hand that “teaches” you, or else detention and a call to your parents will ensue. And if your parents take your side, then they are in trouble! You’re taught that if it wasn’t for “government”, the big-bad-business man will come in and take over everything and children will work for two cents an hour in sweat shops. Or that “terrorists” (ever notice the smallest army is always called a “terrorist?”) will be on every plane and every street corner.

*** end quote ***

The essence of liberty is what you can do to yourself.

The Gooferment is the new plantation owner!

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING:Gooferment Social Welfare

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/119929.html

September 2, 2012
Penn Jillette on Government Social Welfare
Posted by David Kramer on September 2, 2012 09:18 PM

Libertarian Penn Jillette (Penn and Teller) expresses his contempt for government social welfare in this very clear and concise statement:

*** begin quote ***

“It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness.”

*** end quote ***

# – # – #  

I love when someone NAILS it. 

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: How to get rid of politicians and bureaucrats?

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

FROM LUDDITE’S WIFE:

Medicare Part X
“NEW SENIOR PROGRAM….
New Medicare Program

You’re a sick senior citizen and the government says there is no nursing home available for you. So what do you do?

Our plan gives anyone 65 years or older a gun and 4 bullets. You are allowed to shoot four Politicians.

Of course, this means you will be sent to prison where you will get three meals a day, a roof over your head, central heating, air conditioning and all the health care you need!

Need new teeth? No problem. Need glasses? That’s great. Need a new hip, knees, kidney, lungs or heart? They’re all covered.

As an added bonus, your kids can come and visit you as often as they do now.

And who will be paying for all of this? It’s the same government that just told you that you they cannot afford for you to go into a home.

And you can get rid of 4 useless politicians while you are at it.

Plus, and because you are a prisoner, you don’t have to pay any income taxes anymore.

Is this a great country or what? “

# – # – # – # – #   

LOL!

# – # – # – # – #   

 

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Just not asking the correct questions?

Monday, September 10, 2012

FROM LUDDITE’S WIFE:

NewImage

SIMPLY AMAZING WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT

Isn’t it amazing that, within only one week of Tiger Woods crashing his Escalade,
the press found every woman with whom Tiger has had an affair during the last few years?

And, they even uncovered photos, text messages, recorded phone calls, etc.!

Furthermore, they not only know the cause of the family fight, but they even know it was a
9 iron from his golf bag that his wife used to break out the windows in the Escalade.
Not only that, they know which wedge!

And, each & every day, they were able to continue to provide America with updates
on Tiger’s sex rehab stay, his wife’s divorce settlement figures, as well as the dates & tournaments in which he was to play.

Now, Barack Hussein Obama has been in office for over three years, yet this very same press:

· Cannot find any of his childhood friends or neighbors;

· Or find any of Obama’s high school or college classmates;

· Or locate any of his college papers or grades;

· Or determine how he paid for both a Columbia & a Harvard education;

· Or discover which country issued his visa to travel to Pakistan in the 1980’s;

· Or even find Michelle Obama’s Princeton thesis on racism.

They just can’t seem to uncover any of this.

Yet, the public still trusts that same press to give them the whole truth!

Don’t you find that totally amazing ?

NOW TELL ME THERE IS NO CORRUPTION IN THE AMERICAN PRESS..

You can not get the water to clear up until you get the pigs out of the creek.

# – # – #  

I think she is ABSOLUTELY on to something!

# – # – # – # – #   

2 Comments | Political | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TINFOILHAT: Why WAS “OBL” killed?

Sunday, September 9, 2012

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/120295.html

September 7, 2012
For the Sheeple Who Still Believe That Obama Killed bin Laden
Posted by David Kramer on September 7, 2012 06:13 AM

In this interview with our current Murderer-in-Chief, he discusses the procedures that are followed before ordering drone bombings on suspected “terrorists” (which always seem to include innocent civilians). At 1: 35 in the segment, O-bomb-a states:

“Our preference is always to capture if we can, because we can gather intelligence.”

But when the U.S. military had allegedly captured the NUMBER ONE terrorist in the world (at least in the U.S. government’s eyes), Osama bin Laden (who was UNARMED and NOT RESISTING), they shot him in cold blood??? Do you think that perhaps the NUMBER ONE terrorist in the world might have had a WEE BIT of intelligence that would have been useful to the United States government??? Hmmm???

# – # – #  

Yeah, I know they killed someone.

Why kill?

Why all the secrecy?

Why even admit that you have the guy?

Why, why why … 

Unless it wasn’t OBL, who was rumored to have died a while ago.

Unless … it really makes NO sense at all.

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | TINFOILHAT | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: A gang with an institutional structure

Sunday, September 9, 2012

http://dailyreckoning.com/fifty-shades-of-government

Fifty Shades of Government
By Jeffrey Tucker

*** begin quote ***

This is the great tragedy of living under leviathan. People have different ideas about how it ought to conduct its affairs. Who should be rewarded? Who should be punished? Who gets the privileges? Who must bear the cost? It becomes a war of pressure groups, everyone seeking to live at the expense of everyone else.

What is this thing we call government? It consists of the gang with an institutional structure that makes the rules, enforces the rules, and lives by rules that are different from those it imposes on the rest of the population. We can’t steal, but government can. We can’t kill, but government can. We can’t counterfeit, kidnap, and engage in fraud, but government can. This thing called government, obviously, has a strong interest in maintaining its power, prestige, and funding.

This is true no matter what the structure of the government happens to be. Oligarchy, absolute monarchy, constitutional monarchy, presidential republic, parliamentary republic, democracy — all of them have one thing in common: They create a special caste of citizens that live at the expense of everyone else.

*** end quote ***

The essence of Libertarianism is that we need no such class. 

Each man, and woman, of course, is their own sovereign.

Responsible to keep their word and a free to bind themselves in any way they see fit.

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Not Voting

Saturday, September 8, 2012

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/119858.html

September 2, 2012
George Carlin on Not Voting
Posted by Lew Rockwell on September 2, 2012 11:37 AM

*** begin quote ***

“I have solved this political dilemma in a very direct way: I don’t vote. On Election Day, I stay home. I firmly believe that if you vote, you have no right to complain. Now, some people like to twist that around. They say, ‘If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain,’ but where’s the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain. I, on the other hand, who did not vote — who did not even leave the house on Election Day — am in no way responsible for what these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created.” — George Carlin

(Thanks to Eli Cryderman)

*** end quote ***

Maybe George is right?

Just ignore them and they will go away?

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

FUN: “Entropy, Decay, and Death” LOL!

Saturday, September 8, 2012

The Zazzy Substitution

Penny: I got that. What I was going for was, you know, how is your life?
Amy Farrah Fowler: Just like everyone else’s. Subject to entropy, decay, and eventual death. Thank you for asking.

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | FUN | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: California may cap future retirement checks

Friday, September 7, 2012

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-28/california-lawmakers-set-vote-to-limit-retiree-pensions.html

California Lawmakers Set Vote to Limit Retiree Pensions
By Michael B. Marois – Aug 28, 2012 2:32 PM ET

*** begin quote ***

New state employees in California would face a cap on the size of their retirement checks, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg said yesterday. They would also have to put in more time on the job than current workers before they collect, he said.

Brown, 74, wants to cut pension benefits and curb abuses before he asks voters in November to raise income and sales taxes. A weak recovery from the longest recession since the 1930s, reducing job prospects and retirement benefits for most nongovernment workers, has churned up a backlash against the pay and benefits of public employees nationwide.

“If voters think that legislators have made a serious policy change, then the chances for the tax increase improve,” said Jack Pitney, who teaches politics at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California. “But if they think it is nothing but window dressing, then chances get a lot worse.”

*** and ***

He also wanted to raise the retirement age to 67 from 55 for most new state employees.

Rising retiree obligations are straining the budgets of states such as California and cities across the U.S. still grappling with income- and sales-tax revenue slammed by the recession.

California’s state pensions in 2010 had about 81 percent of what they needed to cover the benefits they promised, down from 87 percent in the preceding year, according to an annual study by Bloomberg Rankings. The median for all states was 75 percent, the data show.

Steinberg said the pension changes would save the state “tens of billions of dollars” over the next 20 to 30 years, though he later added that an analysis of the cost savings had yet to be done.

*** end quote ***

Sorry, but Gooferment pensions are a vestige of “golden watch” thinking.

No pensions for ordinary people; why should the political class get them.

It a terrible abuse of the taxpayer.

# – # – # – # – #   

2 Comments | Political | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

FUN: “Well then good news! Today’s the day a girl’s finally going to touch you in your little special place.”

Friday, September 7, 2012

http://the-big-bang-theory.com/quotes/episode/419/

*** begin quote ***

Penny: Give my friend his stuff back.

Tod Zarnecki: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Penny: Well then good news! Today’s the day a girl’s finally going to touch you in your little special place.

*Kicks him in the groin*

*** end quote ***

Never fails to make me laugh!

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | FUN | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

PRODUCTIVITY: DROPBOX response; “drugs in prison”

Thursday, September 6, 2012

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!

*****

1 Comment | Productivity | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Convention feedback or “what lever Jesus would pull”

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

AN EMAIL FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL CHUM “CHIEF RACCOON”

*** begin quote ***

I don’t watch that much TV but I had to watch the convention last night mainly to see what Ann Romney is all about because up till now I only associated her with horse ballet.

When she started speaking I found myself holding my breath because i was concerned for her. There was something that I couldn’t put my finger on in her delivery … it was a cross between bravado and terror … I think. At one point I turned to Stella and said ” I’m really uncomfortable for her “. But then slowly as I listened and thought about her raising 5 boys, and that ain’t easy even if your a Kennedy, and it began to dawn on me that I liked this woman. Here she was for literally all the world to see and thru the schmaltz and the rehearsed hand gestures she seemed to be a genuine person/mother in a solid marriage who had to summon the courage to do this public speaking thing for her husband and family … and Oh yeah she also has MS.

Then she was done and the Mittster came out and I was desperate to read his lips but it was clear that he was delighted and proud of her and I thought he said something like ” fantastic ” and shook his head in a “how about that!” manner. I really haven’t paid that much attention to Mitt either up until now but he certainly looks presidential with a chin the size of my couch and his family looks like they’re straight out of central casting.

I got to admit I was thinking ” OK if Obama doesn’t make it I can live with this guy.”

Unfortunately I didn’t go back to reading my ” New Yorker ” magazine ( yeah that’s right I got a deal for 26 weeks cheap and I took it ) instead I decided to watch the much hyped Gov from NJ who I also really didn’t know that much about other than he once took a helicopter to his son’s pee wee football game.

So the Gov walks out to the podium clapping as he walks and I swear I saw Reginald Van Gleason the Third. But I had still had a glow from Anne’s speech ( not that kind of glow you animals ! ) and I was anxious to see just how he would compliment the nominee’s wife and how much he would linger on her. Well, it’s about 14 hours later and I’m still lingering waiting for his assessment of Ann.

I looked again at Stella and dumbfounded I said ” he isn’t going to say anything about her speech ? !! … maybe he’s waiting for the end and he’ll close with glowing praise for her … and then I get caught in a senior moment and I think that Christie is the nominee because he’s talking about his mother and his father and I half expected him to pull out his 1040 or whatever for public viewing. Diane Sawyer later remarked that it was 17 minutes into his speech before he mentioned Mitt. When the cameras would pan on Mitt and Ann while the Gov was speaking, I could hear Ann psychically saying that if this fat Ahole doesn’t acknowledge my speech and my hubby makes it into the White House, I’m going to try and get him planted next to Hoffa in the meadowlands !

Please someone tell me that they think it was famously rude of this guy not to give a single freaking shout out to to the wife of the guy he’s “fighting for “.

I thought it additionally disturbing that all of the post speech pundits that I heard didn’t mention what I would call ” the snub. ” Some people thought it was right on the mark for Repubilcan thinking.

Ann had a love message but Reginald uh I mean Christie’s message was … not love ?

I hope I have poked a stick in a bear hole and that Briscoe and Reinke and Phelpsy will weigh in with their views ( which usually go over my head ) and tell me what lever Jesus would pull

*** end quote ***

I love the characterization “Reginald Van Gleason the Third”.

I don’t watch political speeches. My bp would go thru the roof and I get distracted from the content by the theatrics.

I did like Ann and Clint. They came off as “real people”.

I did read the texts of all the speeches.

As a little L libertarian, I am amazed that everyone D and R can ignore the 800# gorilla in the room — the AfPak war where young girls and boys are dying, or worse coming home crippled for life. Sorry to rain on the politicians and bureaucrats’ parade but this is a national disgrace.

When I have to watch TV commercials pandering to get these troops what they need to recover some how Reginald Van Gleason the Third isn’t funny.

My guy, Ron Paul, didn’t get the nod. It was a long shot from the start. He didn’t get to speak and warn the R’s that they face being at the helm as the Titanic goes down. Talk about what BHO44 got from Bush43; that’ll look like a gift.

Ron is right on the War. No one else even addresses it.

Sadly, I think that we are leaving posterity a sack of <synonym for excrement>. Like lemmings off the cliff, we follow “leaders” who have their own hidden agendas.

Maybe Rand Paul will run. I hope it’s not too late.

I do think that this has DEMONSTRATED beyond a shadow of a doubt that ALL the anit-war groups, with the exception of the Quakers, are really just shills for the D’s. Talk about astroturf! Boy, did those people fool a lot of people. But not me. As a libertarian, I KNOW it’s all about control. Who has the levers to tell other people what to do.

Hope this is the rat’s nest you wanted to stir up.

But I did laff at the Reginald Van Gleason the Third line,
Pf-reinke-nstein

# – # – # – # – #   

I love the characterization “Reginald Van Gleason the Third”.
I don’t watch political speeches. My bp would go thru the roof and I get distracted from the content by the theatrics.
I did like Ann and Clint. They came off as “real people”.
I did read the texts of all the speeches.
As a little L libertarian, I am amazed that everyone D and R can ignore the 800# gorilla in the room — the AfPak war where young girls and boys are dying, or worse coming home crippled for life. Sorry to rain on the politicians and bureaucrats’ parade but this is a national disgrace.
When I have to watch TV commercials pandering to get these troops what they need to recover some how Reginald Van Gleason the Third isn’t funny.
My guy, Ron Paul, didn’t get the nod. It was a long shot from the start. He didn’t get to speak and warn the R’s that they face being at the helm as the Titanic goes down. Talk about what BHO44 got from Bush43; that’ll look like a gift.
Ron is right on the War. No one else even addresses it.
Sadly, I think that we are leaving posterity a sack of <synonym for excrement>. Like lemmings off the cliff, we follow “leaders” who have their own hidden agendas.
Maybe Rand Paul will run. I hope it’s not too late.
I do think that this has DEMONSTRATED beyond a shadow of a doubt that ALL the anit-war groups, with the exception of the Quakers, are really just shills for the D’s. Talk about astroturf! Boy, did those people fool a lot of people. But not me. As a libertarian, I KNOW it’s all about control. Who has the levers to tell other people what to do.
Hope this is the rat’s nest you wanted to stir up.
But I did laff at the Reginald Van Gleason the Third line,Pf-reinke-nstein
— —Pf-reinke-nsteinprep64 @ reinke . cc908-209-3625

 

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GUNS: Common in mass shootings is the shooter is a nut!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

http://libertyslifeline.com/2012/08/28/guns-psychopaths-training-and-left-wing-bluster/

Guns, Psychopaths, Training, and Left Wing Bluster by Bill O’Connell on August 28, 2012

*** begin quote ***

No, what is common in these mass shootings is that the shooter is a nut job. Page was a white supremacist crackpot; Jared Loughner in  Tucson was known to be off his rocker for at least six years before the shooting, which by the way made it illegal to buy a gun but the gun laws didn’t stop him; the Colorado movie shooter was also seeing mental health professionals; in the Virginia Tech shooting, it was the same story, but in our PC world they couldn’t force him to get counseling. Nowhere in her article, nor anywhere else in the main stream media do they talk about the real problem: figuring out how to keep dangerous psychopaths off the street before they snap and kill someone.

*** end quote *** 

Yes, guns are just tools.

And, there’s never a kop around when you need them.

And, to conclude the argument: “God made man and woman; Sam Colt made them equal.” — anonymous

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | GUNS | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Taylor Swift can turn the tables on the Trolls

Monday, September 3, 2012

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120902/COLUMNIST0101/309020082/Hey-Taylor-Swift-here-s-how-get-sweet-revenge?nclick_check=1

Hey, Taylor Swift, here’s how to get sweet revenge
2:04 AM, Sep 2, 2012

*** begin quote ***

Internet trolls have hijacked an innocent contest waged by country megastar Taylor Swift. She will give a free concert and $10,000 to the school that gets the most votes online after “liking” her Facebook page.

Swift’s foes are urging people to vote for the Horace Mann School for the Deaf. Because there’s nothing more hilarious than using deaf children as the punchline to a lame joke aimed at poking fun at a superstar, right?

Swift has legions of public relations people, millions of dollars in income and an international career. Her new song, “We Are Never, Ever Getting Back Together,” is topping charts.

So the 22-year-old phenomenon does not need advice from a 51-year-old local news columnist in Nashville. But here’s some anyway: Babe, embrace this. Own it. Take the joke and turn it around on them. If the Horace Mann School wins — and, with the votes at around 25,000 so far, that looks pretty certain — you get on a plane to Boston and sing your pretty little heart out for them.

*** and ***

It would be a wonderful, generous gesture for her to perform there. After all, music therapy is commonly taught to deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

“Music belongs to all people, and all people have the right to music experiences,” wrote Patricia Winter, a music therapist, in an online article.

Children with hearing impairment, with or without hearing aids or cochlear implants, connect with music. They feel the vibrations. They “hear” lyrics through sign language. Touching the neck of someone singing helps them improve speech skills.

What better revenge would there be for Swift than having photos of sweet deaf children touching her as she sings posted all over the same Internet that’s trashing her?

And one more thought, based on Swift’s own lyrics.

She’s right: People do indeed throw rocks at things that shine. But when you take the high road, they can’t hit you.

*** end quote ***

An EXCELLENT response. 

Rub the trolls nose in it and do good works while you do it.

Sounds very Taylor-esque!

Maybe she good give a duplicate prize to the Number #2 runner up.

I love this idea. When handed lemons, make lemonade.

Webcast it and enshrine yourself as America’s sweetheart. Like Bob Hope or Lucile Ball.

LOL!

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Thoughts about Labor Day

Monday, September 3, 2012

Labor Day Weekend, a time to goof off. 

Perhaps think about the essence of labor? Where we extract our sustinence from a cruel hard world. Such is our lot in life.

I joke with my much younger coworkers that what we do can’t be considered “work”.

The construction worker, the gardener, even the cooks in the cafeteria are “working”.

Paper pushing and keyboard tapping aren’t “work” in the same sense.

But what the division of labor and trade in a free market have given us has been taken away by the rise of “drones”.

Look around at what people “do” to make a living: paper pushing and key tapping is “work” in comparison to the politicians and bureaucrats. What I’d call the “Political Class”.

They make a living by telling their inferiors what to do. Right out of the Prussian School Model.

How did the workers let themselves get exploited by yet another set of “bosses”?

I think it was the adulteration of money that led everyone into a sense of complacency.

When the “dollar” was as good as gold, things were a lot different. The FDR gold theft allowed the common man to be taxed silently without his recognition. Withholding was a similar strategy. As was “social security insurance”. Debt. All frauds intended to steal the seed corn of future generations. 

Leaving them impoverished, while the past generations of politicians and bureaucrats feathered their nests.

How does it change?

I’m not sure. They say that admitting the problem is the first step towards a solution.

I admit that we have problem; does anyone else?

Happy Labor Day, fellow serfs.

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: WHo can morally kill who?

Sunday, September 2, 2012

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2012/08/selective-prosecution.html

Friday, August 31, 2012
Selective Prosecution?

*** begin quote ***

Like many Americans, I’ll be watching 60 Minutes on Sunday night. Not that I’m a regular viewer of the program; from my perspective, the MSM is like bad medicine, best taken in small doses, and only when necessary. So why am I tuning in to CBS? Because the network’s venerable news magazine will have the first broadcast interview with Mark Owen, the Navy SEAL who participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and has written about the mission.

*** end quote ***

While the Constitution provides the Congress the power of marque and reprisal, the President just goes off and kills people.

Sorry, but I don’t believe anything those politicians and bureaucrats say.

Sounds like this EYEWITNESS has a different story to tell and the “establishment” would rather he did “spill the beans”.

Maybe I’ll watch. 

Always nice to get something first hand.

Maybe?

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: Camden politicians and bureaucrats abdicate?

Sunday, September 2, 2012

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/24/camden-nj-to-reboot-police-department-by-new-year

Gritty N.J. city of Camden to scrap police department amid budget woes
By Perry Chiaramonte
Published August 26, 2012
FoxNews.com

*** begin quote ***

Crime-ridden Camden, New Jersey – often referred to as the most dangerous city in the United States—is getting rid of its police department.

In the latest example of a cash-strapped municipality taking drastic measures to deal with swollen public sector liabilities and shrinking budgets, the city plans to disband its 460-member police department and replace it with a non-union “Metro Division” of the Camden County Police. Backers of the plan say it will save millions of dollars for taxpayers while ensuring public safety, but police unions say it is simply a way to get out of collective bargaining with the men and women in blue.

*** end quote ***

There are few, some would say if any, valid Gooferment functions. A citizen exchanges their loyalty for the protection of the group. Police protection is the the platinum “service” that the Gooferment fails to provide. If it doesn’t do that, why have it.

The argument can be made that a citizen can buy protection service more cheaply from “the Mob” that is much more effective. I remember in the Fifties, one NEVER heard of an old lady being mugged or a store being shoplifted. One did hear of from time to time of a ne’er-do-well tripping on the apocryphal sidewalk crack and spending several weeks in hospital and several months learning to walk again. Those sidewalk cracks are very dangerous. I was give also to understand that members of the local Italian American Club rush to the poor unfortunate’s aid and whisked him to the doctor by way of a small clearing in the Inwood Park informally call “You disrespect my neighborhood; you disrespect me?”.

Ahhh, so here we have the politicians and bureaucrats, having robbed the good taxpayers of everything they have, cuts the one essential service. How about if every one of the politicians and bureaucrats on the public’s dole, gets cut to minimum wage?

Defined benefit pensions are the dodo of the financial world. Time to correct this abuse. Welcome to the 401k world.

A brave new world financially.

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #   

Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: LastPass offers Grid Multifactor Authentication to free Users

Saturday, September 1, 2012

http://helpdesk.lastpass.com/security-options/grid-multifactor-authentication/

*** begin quote ***

At LastPass, we strongly encourage our users to take advantage of our multifactor authentication options. Multifactor authentication requires the user to present both username/password and information from another, often physical, item. This means that if a hacker gets your password, they are still unable to access your LastPass account without this second factor.

LastPass offers multifactor authentication as a Premium feature, but we also believe that everyone should be protected online, so we have created the Grid Multifactor Authentication as a feature available to both Premium and non-Premium users.

*** end quote ***

Another service beefs up security.

# – # – # – # – #   

1 Comment | SERVICE | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

SERVICE: Dropbox two-step authentication

Friday, August 31, 2012

http://lifehacker.com/5937946/dropbox-rolls-out-two+step-verification

Dropbox Adds Two-Step Verification for Enhanced Security, And You Should Turn It On Now [Dropbox]
by David Galloway

*** begin quote ***

Dropbox Adds Two-Step Verification for Enhanced Security, And You Should Turn It On NowMost security-minded computer users know about Google’s two-step verification process, but other popular webapps like Facebook and Amazon have also added this great way of reducing your chances of being hacked. Today, Dropbox joins the two-step verification party .

To enable Dropbox two-step authentication you’ll need to allow Dropbox to send you a text message with a code or use a mobile authenticator app if you don’t want Dropbox to have your phone number. Either way works fine and enables the “something you have” plus “something you know” steps to help keep you safe.

To get started go to your account settings page on Dropbox, click on the Security tab, and scroll down to the bottom of the page and enable two-step verification. Or just click this link.

*** end quote ***

GREAT!

We need two factor on more critical inet services.

# – # – # – # – #   

1 Comment | SERVICE | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »