http://www.impactlab.com/2010/04/16/earthquake-in-tibet-amazing-photo-gallery/
April 16th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
Earthquake in Tibet – Amazing Photo Gallery
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A girl reads a book outside her makeshift tent amid the rubble of a quake-demolished building
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It’s hard not to be moved seeing these pics.
Could it happen here?
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Leave a Comment » | 
INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: Human Factors | 
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Posted by reinkefj
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2010/04/remembering-hero.html
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Remembering a Hero
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Almost everyone knows about Audie Murphy, the most decorated American soldier in World War II. For his combat actions in the European Theater, Murphy received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars and three Purple Hearts.
But fewer know the story of his widow, Pam. After her husband’s death in a 1971 plane crash, Pam Murphy went to work as a clerk at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, a VA facility in North Hills, California.
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Sounds like a heroic woman married to bona fide war hero.
Argh!
Never heard this story when she was alive; too bad. She deserved her own medals from the VA.
We’ll get VA level service from Obamacare andwe’ll wish she was still around.
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Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL, VETERANS | Tagged: Health Care, Human Factors, VETERANS | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
PGP doesn’t think so. Maybe they don’t care. Maybe they get the big enterprises to drop big bux on them.
Try and buy “PGP HOME” and paste and cut your email in to the retype email field. (Or use a keyboard macro expansion!). Can’t do it.
So, I guess I don’t need “PGP HOME”.
One lost sale. Think PGP cares? I don’t
And, lest you think it’s just PGP, look at how many times you have to put your ZIPCODE in AND your state as well. Think there might be a relation between the two? And, STATE is the only pick from a list field, when everything is text input. Can’t edit STATE for valid values.
Argh!
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Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7556429/Scrabbles-makers-to-allow-proper-nouns.html
Scrabble’s makers to allow proper nouns
By Stephen Adams
Published: 7:00AM BST 06 Apr 2010
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The games company said it would be introducing the rule change – the first in the game’s 62 year history – to “enable younger players” to get involved.
This could cause a power shift between the generations, with those possessing a keen knowledge of the top 40 singles’ chart legitimately able to cite such high-scoring examples as singers N-Dubz (17 points) and Jay-Z (23 points).
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“There is no dictionary for proper nouns as such so provided the word played is an accepted spelling, rather than just a cheeky one made up by the player it would be acceptable,” she said.
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Argh! Is this change for the sake of change.
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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324094640.htm
Science News
Great Apes Know They Could Be Wrong, Research Suggests
ScienceDaily (Mar. 24, 2010)
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Dr. Call concludes: “The current results indicate that the looking response appears to be a function of at least three factors: the cost of looking inside the tube, the value of the reward and the state of the information. The combination of these three factors creates an information processing system that possesses complexity, flexibility and control, three of the features of metacognition*. These findings suggest that nonhuman animals may possess some metacognitive abilities, too.”*Metacognition: cognition about cognition, or knowing about knowing.
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Sigh, I thought I was smart, but I could be wrong. Can some one explain this to me?
My tool set stopped at “thinking about thinking” with DeBono.
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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Posted on Thu, Apr. 1, 2010
The 1985 Wildcats: Where are the champs now?
Compiled by Pat Maguire and Anthony Machcinski
Inquirer Staff Writers
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Villanova’s stunning 66-64 win over Georgetown for the NCAA basketball championship took place exactly 25 years ago.
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While most are dithering through life, or prattling about April Fool jokes, here’s some wisdom — life goes on. I found it because of a modest “manhattan college” connection. But in reading it, it gave me a sense of “continuity”. Well written. Only apparently one man’s life was a “train wreck”. One was unfindable. And, everyone else made their way. Is it always like that? In those proportions. Throughout history, do we all “labor in the vineyard” and pass namelessly away without much of a splash?
Sadly seems so.
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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/14/the-best-walking-partner-man-vs-dog/
December 14, 2009, 12:27 pm
The Best Walking Partner: Man vs. Dog
By TARA PARKER-POPE
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Is it better to walk a human or to walk a dog?
New research from the University of Missouri has found that people who walk dogs are more consistent about regular exercise and show more improvement in fitness than people who walk with a human companion. In a 12-week study of 54 older adults at an assisted living home, 35 people were assigned to a walking program for five days a week, while the remaining 19 served as a control group. Among the walkers, 23 selected a friend or spouse to serve as a regular walking partner along a trail laid out near the home. Another 12 participants took a bus daily to a local animal shelter where they were assigned a dog to walk.
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With very surprising results.
Unless you’re a student of human nature!
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Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/27/why-america-needs-to-start-investing-in-its-workforce-again-2
Why America Needs To Start Educating Its Workforce Again
by Vivek Wadhwa on Mar 27, 2010
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Ask any old-time IBMer, and you will hear stories of IBM’s legendary workforce-development practices. When a manager identified a manufacturing worker with promise, the company would teach him how to dress, how to speak to clients, and how to service products. These technicians would then be trained to be computer programmers, sales reps, or product managers.
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If you do get hired, it’s up to you to stay current or get booted out with the first dip in sales. American corporations consider their workforce to be disposable — like ball-point pens and cigarette lighters. Gone are the days when a company would train a factory worker to become a computer programmer or offer lifelong employment. It’s all about quarterly revenue and profits now.
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The Indian experience highlights what can be achieved by investing in upgrading the skills of the workforce. If workforce training can take the output of an education system as weak as India’s and turn its graduates into world-class engineers and scientists, imagine what could be done with a worker base that has received amongst the best education in the world, as is the case in the United States.
U.S. companies have long played the guru, developing and disseminating many widely adopted management and workforce practices. The time has come for the guru to learn from one of its disciples: India.
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Once upon a time, AT&T was like IBM as well. One of my early achievements was proposing Computer Operators be trained as Programmers. I had “the Charter”. Took the project from: “We need programmers.” to graduating 21 of the initially 22. (Darn girl! Went and decided she’d rather have a baby. She shoulda waited; ruined my talking point. She came back from maternity leave and successfully tested. But, I didn’t get credit for her. Still don’t understand why?)
Vivek hits upon a key change needed in the American business meme. “Quarterly”! We, as a society, have to figure out how to change the meme of “company” from a short-term focused entity to a long-term focused one. A company is “eternal”; unlike human beings. And, it is a creation of the government, so it should be easy. It’s all rooted in the tax code. We see corporations as “paying taxes” when if fact they just pass them on to real people and hide the tax in the cost of the product. To change the company focus, several things have to happen: realign corporate management’s desire to the long term, change investor’s expectations to the long term, and — probably the hardest — change the government’s rules. Management annual salaries should be limited to less than POTUS (President Of The United States) makes; bonuses should be in the form of long term bonds. (That will cure that short term viewpoint in 30 minutes or less!) Investors, to encourage sticking for the long term, should get a real “capital gains” tax break — most of the time your “capital gain” is inflation; not a real gain — ZERO tax for investments held for say a decade. And, the government — well they are probably incurable — we need stable money, low taxes, and low spending. (Like that’s going to happen with out a revolution!)
We can start on “education” by ending “public education” as we know it. It took seven decades to get into this mess; probably take seven to get out of it. But parents should educate their children. They are the ones who had them, have their best interests at heart, and have the motivation from them to succeed. Education expense today has no ROI. It’s a mess.
We have a lot to do to recapture the American Dream!
[When I worked with Vivek, was he this smart? Didn’t seem so at the time. Maybe I’m the dummy.]
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4 Comments | Technology | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
EMAIL RECEIVED AS A RESULT OF TEDIOUSLY ASKING A QUESTION ON THEIR WEB SITE
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Hello,
Thank you for contacting Abbott Diabetes Care, maker of FreeStyle and Precision products. We are pleased to provide you with a team of dedicated Specialists to help you understand your options in obtaining the FreeStyle and Precision products. Our Specialists are available to assist you toll free at 1-866-246-2683, Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 9 PM (CST).
Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Abbott Diabetes Care
Join the FreeStyle Promise® Program Today and BE Supported! (https://www.freestylepromise.com)
This communication may contain information that is proprietary, confidential, or exempt from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, please note that any other dissemination, distribution, use or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. Anyone who receives this message in error should notify the sender immediately by return e-mail and delete it from his or her computer.
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No, I don’t want to call and talk to one of your “dedicated Specialists” (In a third world country?)
I just want you to answer my damn question.
If I wanted to endure the “fingernails on the blackboard” physical pain of calling your call center, I would have called in the first place.
My last THREE phone calls with product problems were really great experiences. Why would I want to repeat that experience? That’s why I sent you an email.
Argh!
If “marketing is a conversation”, Abbott Diabetes Care sure isn’t listening.
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Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: Customer Disservice, Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
http://www.lewrockwell.com/pr/end-daylight-saving-time2.html
End Daylight Saving Time
by Sheila Danzig
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It has not escaped our notice that in the United States, Eastern standard time is the same as Central daylight time and Mountain standard time is the same as Pacific Daylight Time. Thus, we propose that The Pacific and Central time zones remain on permanent daylight saving time, and that the Mountain and Eastern time zones remain on permanent standard time.
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This proposal will simplify scheduling, travel, and commerce. And by ending semi-annual clock tampering, it will also allow people to get more sleep, be better adjusted to their daily routine, avoid missed appointments resulting from failure to reset clocks, and, most importantly, save lives.
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I don’t agree completely.
Let’s just go to GMT time. COmputers already do.
And, leave everyone free to sort out the details themselves.
With one standard time, people will sort it out.
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1 Comment | Technology | Tagged: Human Factors | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
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FJohn Reinke
Consultant at Technology Legacies LLC
Advisor, Computer Governance Committee at Manhattan College
Editor / Publisher at Jasper Jottings
Greater New York City Area
JJ Positraction JJ Endnotes Downsize DC
Philosophy of Liberty
I have NOT received any gagged governmental information requests
Reinke Faces Life 
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