Is my last post from my office, my 178th post. Goodbye lame office, goodbye depressing grey cubicle, goodbye neighbor yelling in Turkish, goodbye working for a tobacco company, and best of all Goodbye DUMBASS!
Tomorrow I'm leaving on my cruise, WOOO! You can read all about it on my Cruiseblog which I will hopefully be able to update from the ship with snazzy pictures of glaciers and eagles and hopefully not to many lame tourist photos. We shall see.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Friday, July 15, 2005
I QUIT!
I quit my job yesterday. Dumbass was amazingly unsurprised, but as the idea that I was leaving so soon began sinking in he started shaking and his eyes got all wide and scared. He nearly crapped himself when I told him I'd be leaving next Thursday. He has spent the last day or so going back and forth between people trying to figure out what is going on and asking them what he should do. They had to have several hours of tedious meetings to decide if they need to hire someone else, and then another set of meetings to make sure I was going to do work my last week here. WOOOOOOOO And when I told big boss that Dumbass had told me to look for another job he nearly choked on his chewing tobacco.
I'm probably not going to be blogging much in the interim. (Not that I've been doing a bang up job lately at all) But I have tons of crap to do and every spare moment in front of a computer will be spent looking for an apartment, or a subletter. I am hoping to find a cheap sublet for august/september and then get a nicer place. Apartment hunting from 600 miles away is always an extra challenge and August 15 seems awefully soon since i'm spending 10 days in the alaskan wilderness with my family. AH!
I'll be photo-blogging my Alaskan cruise that starts next Saturday, I'll post the link to that when I get it set up, but there wont be much else until mid August. (there go my already pathetic traffic stats)
Thanks to everyone for their support and for listening to me bitch for the past 11 months. I really appreciate it. Hopefully this will be an improvement.
I'm probably not going to be blogging much in the interim. (Not that I've been doing a bang up job lately at all) But I have tons of crap to do and every spare moment in front of a computer will be spent looking for an apartment, or a subletter. I am hoping to find a cheap sublet for august/september and then get a nicer place. Apartment hunting from 600 miles away is always an extra challenge and August 15 seems awefully soon since i'm spending 10 days in the alaskan wilderness with my family. AH!
I'll be photo-blogging my Alaskan cruise that starts next Saturday, I'll post the link to that when I get it set up, but there wont be much else until mid August. (there go my already pathetic traffic stats)
Thanks to everyone for their support and for listening to me bitch for the past 11 months. I really appreciate it. Hopefully this will be an improvement.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Daily Show
Jon Stewart really reamed this guy. I couldn't stop giggling. I think he was a little harsh, but he made a good point. Why bitch about Barbara Streisand when there are people in power who are taking away our rights?
Dumbass v. Ninja: The Final Chapter
I'm moving to Chicago!!!!!! I got a job at a company there and I am set to start next month.
I haven't told Dumbass yet, that's tomorrow, but this is my final coup, basically screwing him over for staff. YAY.
If anyone wants to sublet a cozy apartment in Pittsburgh and or rent me a place in Chicago they should e-mail me.
I haven't told Dumbass yet, that's tomorrow, but this is my final coup, basically screwing him over for staff. YAY.
If anyone wants to sublet a cozy apartment in Pittsburgh and or rent me a place in Chicago they should e-mail me.
Getting High
Kids want to get high. And they are going to find ways to do it.
This article from CNN about the kid who died playing the "passing-out game" is interesting. I personally have very vivid recollections of playing this game with my band. But we certainly didn't call it anything even remotely as lame as the "passing-out game." However I do question this incident because normally hands were the only thing used to play this game. I mean a friend choking you is cool, but hanging yourself, that would be stupid, Duh.
Maybe they should just give the kids some pot instead. (Not to be insensitive to this kid's death, but he was obviously bored.)
Also, how's this for the least surprising test result ever:
You are Marijuana (aka: weed, dope, skunk,
chronic...). You are the most commonly used
drug in the world. You are powerful, stubborn,
moody, have a strong attitude. You are
classified as class (A and B) illegal drugs.
What kind of Drugs are you? and how that reflect your personality?
brought to you by Quizilla
This article from CNN about the kid who died playing the "passing-out game" is interesting. I personally have very vivid recollections of playing this game with my band. But we certainly didn't call it anything even remotely as lame as the "passing-out game." However I do question this incident because normally hands were the only thing used to play this game. I mean a friend choking you is cool, but hanging yourself, that would be stupid, Duh.
Maybe they should just give the kids some pot instead. (Not to be insensitive to this kid's death, but he was obviously bored.)
Also, how's this for the least surprising test result ever:
You are Marijuana (aka: weed, dope, skunk,
chronic...). You are the most commonly used
drug in the world. You are powerful, stubborn,
moody, have a strong attitude. You are
classified as class (A and B) illegal drugs.
What kind of Drugs are you? and how that reflect your personality?
brought to you by Quizilla
Open Source Politics
Still Alive
I'm still around, I was out of town over the weekend on a quest for a non sucky job and things have been busy this week. Hopefully I will have some insights sometime soon. But right now all I have is a desire for sleep.
Okay, this is the least surprising test result EVER.
Okay, this is the least surprising test result EVER.
Friday, July 08, 2005
BE REASONABLE!! the 7/7 edition
JD has posted a very nice post over at Cabal today. We agree again, armageddon will be upon us soon.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Terror Statistics (or Correlation is not Causation)
Here's a post at BTC News about the number of terror incidents reported in recent years. (Via Atrios)
It is an interesting post about the numbers and how they are arrived at. As with all statistics there are many possible data sources and Terrorist Attack has to be defined in certain terms in order to create an accurate picture. There is some debate about how things are defined and depending on how the statistic is defined we get different pictures of the situation. This isn't really surprising and I will leave this whole debate to people who know more about international terrorism than I do.
I would like to point out the final paragraph though under the graph
"The axis labels on this graph are hard to read, but the terrorism rate decerases steadily through Clinton's second term, bottoming out in the year 2000, and then it rises again dramatically. I think this graphis one of the best ilustrations I've seen yet of the difference between what Karl Rove described as the "liberal" and "conservative" approaches to combatting terrorism."
The graph itself shows a steady decline in terrorist attacks until 2000 and then they rise again quickly.
This final paragraph is one of the best illustrations I've seen yet of how not to use statistics. Though some may disagree with me I do not think that the President of the U.S. has that much of an affect on terrorism and this graph is not convincing evidence.
This graph and the conclusions drawn by the writer of this article is a great example of the thing that I must have explained 5 times in every lab I taught during college. Correlation does not imply Causation. Just because two things LOOK related does not mean that they ARE. There are mediating factors, one big one being the economy. It is my humble opinion that a less thriving economic athmosphere in the world could result in larger numbers of unhappy people who think it is a good idea to blow things up. And besides the economic factors there are any number of political and sociological factors that could have contributed to the sudden increase in terrorism. Some of these things may relate to US Foreign Policy and some of them may not.
For liberals to imply that the sudden rise in terrorism during Bush's term in office is because of conservative policies is simply false. Just like it is incorrect for conservatives to imply that the sudden increase is due to the Liberal policy of placating them until they gained enough power to strike hard and fast.
Just because I go to the bathroom everytime I'm in the bathroom doesn't mean that the bathroom causes me to pee. Get it? There are other factors at work here besides who is President. To discover what they are will require a much more detailed analysis of the terrorist activity levels, events leading up to 2000 and who exactly the terrorists are that are committing these acts. And even then we will still be guessing about what caused it.
I'll tell you whose fault it really is, the damned terrorists.
It is an interesting post about the numbers and how they are arrived at. As with all statistics there are many possible data sources and Terrorist Attack has to be defined in certain terms in order to create an accurate picture. There is some debate about how things are defined and depending on how the statistic is defined we get different pictures of the situation. This isn't really surprising and I will leave this whole debate to people who know more about international terrorism than I do.
I would like to point out the final paragraph though under the graph
"The axis labels on this graph are hard to read, but the terrorism rate decerases steadily through Clinton's second term, bottoming out in the year 2000, and then it rises again dramatically. I think this graphis one of the best ilustrations I've seen yet of the difference between what Karl Rove described as the "liberal" and "conservative" approaches to combatting terrorism."
The graph itself shows a steady decline in terrorist attacks until 2000 and then they rise again quickly.
This final paragraph is one of the best illustrations I've seen yet of how not to use statistics. Though some may disagree with me I do not think that the President of the U.S. has that much of an affect on terrorism and this graph is not convincing evidence.
This graph and the conclusions drawn by the writer of this article is a great example of the thing that I must have explained 5 times in every lab I taught during college. Correlation does not imply Causation. Just because two things LOOK related does not mean that they ARE. There are mediating factors, one big one being the economy. It is my humble opinion that a less thriving economic athmosphere in the world could result in larger numbers of unhappy people who think it is a good idea to blow things up. And besides the economic factors there are any number of political and sociological factors that could have contributed to the sudden increase in terrorism. Some of these things may relate to US Foreign Policy and some of them may not.
For liberals to imply that the sudden rise in terrorism during Bush's term in office is because of conservative policies is simply false. Just like it is incorrect for conservatives to imply that the sudden increase is due to the Liberal policy of placating them until they gained enough power to strike hard and fast.
Just because I go to the bathroom everytime I'm in the bathroom doesn't mean that the bathroom causes me to pee. Get it? There are other factors at work here besides who is President. To discover what they are will require a much more detailed analysis of the terrorist activity levels, events leading up to 2000 and who exactly the terrorists are that are committing these acts. And even then we will still be guessing about what caused it.
I'll tell you whose fault it really is, the damned terrorists.
London
Yay Kav's Okay!
I never know what to say when stuff like this happens. Anything I could say just seems so empty. So here is my best shot, don't laugh at me.
We're with you London.
Update: Kav has an excellent plan for the UK in responding to these attacks.
Update: There has been lots of stuff around about the date, and how it will be added to the list of infamous dates. 3.11, 9.11 and now 7.7. I can't help wondering if they intentionally stayed away from 7.11. (NOT that a terrorist attack on any day is okay obviously.)
I never know what to say when stuff like this happens. Anything I could say just seems so empty. So here is my best shot, don't laugh at me.
We're with you London.
Update: Kav has an excellent plan for the UK in responding to these attacks.
Update: There has been lots of stuff around about the date, and how it will be added to the list of infamous dates. 3.11, 9.11 and now 7.7. I can't help wondering if they intentionally stayed away from 7.11. (NOT that a terrorist attack on any day is okay obviously.)
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Screwing Up America
I was reading this interview with the author of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America. (Via Instapundit) Here's part one and Part two of the interview.
And I found it really interesting how partisan the book seemed to be from the interview. I haven't read it obviously, but the interview is all about how liberalism is hurting America and how liberal values etc. Maybe that is just my perception. This part in particular for some reasons struck me as odd;
LetÂ’s talk about the TV stuff in particular. As I said, this used to be called the Family Hour. Now, itÂ’s one cheap sex joke after another. But if you complain about that, youÂ’re a prude, or youÂ’re a square. You know what? This is why I come down harder on liberals than I do on conservatives, because the Left has decided to look the other way. They donÂ’t want to complain about this, because if they do, now theyÂ’re on the side of the morality police. Oh, they couldnÂ’t possibly want to be on that side.
I find the issue of TV censorship particularly confusing when it comes to political ideology. It seems to me that a TV station is a business, this business is run by showing programs and selling advertising on highly rated programs. So in order for a broadcasting group to be successful people have to chose to watch the shows that are being aired on their channel. It seems to me that this sort of thing will police itself no? No one wants to watch cheap sex jokes, then no one will watch it and the show will go off the air, right? Why should the government get involved in a private industry. And WHY are CONSERVATIVES the ones calling for government involvement in this industry. I thought there was something about fewer regulations on companies or something in their platform.
I dont think this particular issue has as much to do with being morality police as it does freedom of choice. If you don't want to watch crap, then don't watch crap and if no one watches crap then it wont be aired. It is actually that simple. If we have to regulate it though that means there is clearly someone who wants to watch smut on TV, so why not let them rot their brains with idiotic television while you and your kids do something productive. Because that's not nearly as fun as complaining about how liberals have taken over the media and are brainwashing your kids with sex and drugs.
I think that Goldberg is enabling the victim culture in our country by giving a list of 100 scapegoats for things that people in this country don't like. I don't think that the fate of America rests in the hands of 100 or even 1,000 people. (maybe that's my youthful idealism again, how do I turn that off?) Certainly not the 100 people listed in his book.
I don't think this country is screwed up. I think that this country is about freedom. And part of that freedom is the freedom to turn off the TV, turn off the gansta rap and say no. Part of it is also to turn on the TV and buy those rap CDs and smoke cigarettes in public. I think that Americans need to stop blaming other people for their problems and take a little responsibility. If someone is smoking next to you, then move, go to the non smoking bar. If a comedian says something offensive on the TV, then turn it off, don't watch it. If a politician does something you disagree with then vote for someone else. You get the idea.
I am tired of hearing people complain about things that they have the ability to control, like the television set. Industries like television are completely dependant on their consumers. If no one watches their shows they lose money because they can't sell advertising it is that simple. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And I am particularly tired of hearing conservatives blame liberals for the state of our great union when THEY are the ones running the country. It isn't like they need the Liberal's permission for anything at this point, now they are just kicking a guy when he's down.
The people who are really screwing up America aren't the pundits on MSNBC or the slutty girls on the Reality Shows, or even Rush Limbaugh. They are the people who are watching to the idiot pundits, watching the slutty girls and listening to Rush Limbaugh because they are giving power to these people and these industries.
Americans have more opportunities than other race in the world to make something of themselves, to become educated and to exercise power in their government. And the fact that they instead blame the media, or their political opposite for everthing that is wrong is the most screwed up part about america.
In the end America is only Screwing Itself.
And I found it really interesting how partisan the book seemed to be from the interview. I haven't read it obviously, but the interview is all about how liberalism is hurting America and how liberal values etc. Maybe that is just my perception. This part in particular for some reasons struck me as odd;
LetÂ’s talk about the TV stuff in particular. As I said, this used to be called the Family Hour. Now, itÂ’s one cheap sex joke after another. But if you complain about that, youÂ’re a prude, or youÂ’re a square. You know what? This is why I come down harder on liberals than I do on conservatives, because the Left has decided to look the other way. They donÂ’t want to complain about this, because if they do, now theyÂ’re on the side of the morality police. Oh, they couldnÂ’t possibly want to be on that side.
I find the issue of TV censorship particularly confusing when it comes to political ideology. It seems to me that a TV station is a business, this business is run by showing programs and selling advertising on highly rated programs. So in order for a broadcasting group to be successful people have to chose to watch the shows that are being aired on their channel. It seems to me that this sort of thing will police itself no? No one wants to watch cheap sex jokes, then no one will watch it and the show will go off the air, right? Why should the government get involved in a private industry. And WHY are CONSERVATIVES the ones calling for government involvement in this industry. I thought there was something about fewer regulations on companies or something in their platform.
I dont think this particular issue has as much to do with being morality police as it does freedom of choice. If you don't want to watch crap, then don't watch crap and if no one watches crap then it wont be aired. It is actually that simple. If we have to regulate it though that means there is clearly someone who wants to watch smut on TV, so why not let them rot their brains with idiotic television while you and your kids do something productive. Because that's not nearly as fun as complaining about how liberals have taken over the media and are brainwashing your kids with sex and drugs.
I think that Goldberg is enabling the victim culture in our country by giving a list of 100 scapegoats for things that people in this country don't like. I don't think that the fate of America rests in the hands of 100 or even 1,000 people. (maybe that's my youthful idealism again, how do I turn that off?) Certainly not the 100 people listed in his book.
I don't think this country is screwed up. I think that this country is about freedom. And part of that freedom is the freedom to turn off the TV, turn off the gansta rap and say no. Part of it is also to turn on the TV and buy those rap CDs and smoke cigarettes in public. I think that Americans need to stop blaming other people for their problems and take a little responsibility. If someone is smoking next to you, then move, go to the non smoking bar. If a comedian says something offensive on the TV, then turn it off, don't watch it. If a politician does something you disagree with then vote for someone else. You get the idea.
I am tired of hearing people complain about things that they have the ability to control, like the television set. Industries like television are completely dependant on their consumers. If no one watches their shows they lose money because they can't sell advertising it is that simple. If you don't like it, don't buy it. And I am particularly tired of hearing conservatives blame liberals for the state of our great union when THEY are the ones running the country. It isn't like they need the Liberal's permission for anything at this point, now they are just kicking a guy when he's down.
The people who are really screwing up America aren't the pundits on MSNBC or the slutty girls on the Reality Shows, or even Rush Limbaugh. They are the people who are watching to the idiot pundits, watching the slutty girls and listening to Rush Limbaugh because they are giving power to these people and these industries.
Americans have more opportunities than other race in the world to make something of themselves, to become educated and to exercise power in their government. And the fact that they instead blame the media, or their political opposite for everthing that is wrong is the most screwed up part about america.
In the end America is only Screwing Itself.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Ohhh!
So thats why I never get invited out anymore:
On the other hand, if no-one comes to your parties, and people don't want you at theirs, you might think a bit about the reason why: Might you not be using enough deodorant? Might people be alienated by your rhetoric, and as a result miss your substance? If they think you're a crank, might you actually be a crank, or at least someone who doesn't take the trouble to avoid seeming like a crank?
On the other hand, if no-one comes to your parties, and people don't want you at theirs, you might think a bit about the reason why: Might you not be using enough deodorant? Might people be alienated by your rhetoric, and as a result miss your substance? If they think you're a crank, might you actually be a crank, or at least someone who doesn't take the trouble to avoid seeming like a crank?
Monday, July 04, 2005
Jully 4th
Happy Fireworks!!
In honor of this year's Independance day I would like to declare indepenance from my blog and the opening of my Online Magazine (published via the blogger internet publishing tool of course, but not a blog). It seems to be the new trend these days.
In honor of this year's Independance day I would like to declare indepenance from my blog and the opening of my Online Magazine (published via the blogger internet publishing tool of course, but not a blog). It seems to be the new trend these days.
Friday, July 01, 2005
..........
Justice O'Connor has announced her retirement. (In case you've been sleeping all day.)
I've tried to be filled with hysteria and anxiety like everyone says good liberals should be doing. I don't really have the energy right now for hysteria. It would be like beating against a brick wall with my bare hands at this point.
I've also tried cautious optimism. While Bush and I agree on probably 0 things I thought maybe, just maybe he will pick someone good. That'd be great. I mean what a good time this would be for him to not fuck things up. It's not like the SC has been doing a bang up job lately anyway. I mean maybe he'll appoint someone who will be an actual improvement.
And then I thought about a lot of the things he's done recently. Like the great news we're getting from Afghanistan, a country barely registering in our country's memory. Or the constant squabbling over the Mess-O-Potamia. In fact it seems like we can't even appoint an ambassador to the UN without experiencing incompetence in some form or another.
And so now I have nothing left but Despair. Some Democrats are goign to make idiots out of themselves. Some republicans are going to be smug and laugh at the Democrats. And I'm going to sit here and wait for Bush to flush. This is so depressing.
I've tried to be filled with hysteria and anxiety like everyone says good liberals should be doing. I don't really have the energy right now for hysteria. It would be like beating against a brick wall with my bare hands at this point.
I've also tried cautious optimism. While Bush and I agree on probably 0 things I thought maybe, just maybe he will pick someone good. That'd be great. I mean what a good time this would be for him to not fuck things up. It's not like the SC has been doing a bang up job lately anyway. I mean maybe he'll appoint someone who will be an actual improvement.
And then I thought about a lot of the things he's done recently. Like the great news we're getting from Afghanistan, a country barely registering in our country's memory. Or the constant squabbling over the Mess-O-Potamia. In fact it seems like we can't even appoint an ambassador to the UN without experiencing incompetence in some form or another.
And so now I have nothing left but Despair. Some Democrats are goign to make idiots out of themselves. Some republicans are going to be smug and laugh at the Democrats. And I'm going to sit here and wait for Bush to flush. This is so depressing.
Dumbass v. #Ninja: Stirrings of Revolution
The revolution is beginning.
After two months of employing a divide and conquor strategy on his lowly minions Dumbass's dumbassness has come fully to light. While communicating to all three of his minions individualy Dumbass has forgotten 2 important things. The first one is that we are all working on his preformance review right now and he has pissed every single one of us off this week. The second thing is that women talk about everything. Apparently because of his disdain for these pathetic creatures he never bothered to learn that what you say to one woman invariably gets repeated to at least one other. And that when three of them work in close quarters it is unlikely that anything you say to one will remain said only to that one.
His incompetence lead him to keep my friend Turkishlady in the dark about the actual structure of the project after her return from maternity leave. He neglected to inform her that the responsibility for almost the entirety of the project now rested in the hands of CoolGirl (who is pregnant and is only here for another 4 months before she goes on maternity leave). This would be great for all concerned except that TurkishLady had been promised similar responsibility before she went on her maternity leave. And his inability to actually inform her of the current state of affairs has created a small problem.
Meanwhile he told CoolGirl that she needed to be "managing" us more. That is, taking e-mails we are already getting, forwarding them to us and telling us what to do with them, even though we already know perfectly well what to do. CoolGirl told him that this was micro-managing and that this was why I had blown up at him 2 months ago. He said that it wasn't why. Lord knows why else he would think that this #Ninja would unleash her fury upon him, but I'm sure it is something patronizing and wrong. He also told CoolGirl that TurkishLady and I had come to him with "complaints" about her management style. This is an out and out LIE. I most certainly NEVER said anything about CoolGirl to him. If I had a problem with CoolGirl I would more likely send her a note via homing pigeon than tell Dumbass about it.
After a conference today we are finally a united front against the tyranny and incompetance that is our boss. After the weekend there is a plan to speak to his supervisor about the ongoing problems. I predict that the shit will hit the fan. Should be fun.
Meanwhile I will be working on his preformance review.
After two months of employing a divide and conquor strategy on his lowly minions Dumbass's dumbassness has come fully to light. While communicating to all three of his minions individualy Dumbass has forgotten 2 important things. The first one is that we are all working on his preformance review right now and he has pissed every single one of us off this week. The second thing is that women talk about everything. Apparently because of his disdain for these pathetic creatures he never bothered to learn that what you say to one woman invariably gets repeated to at least one other. And that when three of them work in close quarters it is unlikely that anything you say to one will remain said only to that one.
His incompetence lead him to keep my friend Turkishlady in the dark about the actual structure of the project after her return from maternity leave. He neglected to inform her that the responsibility for almost the entirety of the project now rested in the hands of CoolGirl (who is pregnant and is only here for another 4 months before she goes on maternity leave). This would be great for all concerned except that TurkishLady had been promised similar responsibility before she went on her maternity leave. And his inability to actually inform her of the current state of affairs has created a small problem.
Meanwhile he told CoolGirl that she needed to be "managing" us more. That is, taking e-mails we are already getting, forwarding them to us and telling us what to do with them, even though we already know perfectly well what to do. CoolGirl told him that this was micro-managing and that this was why I had blown up at him 2 months ago. He said that it wasn't why. Lord knows why else he would think that this #Ninja would unleash her fury upon him, but I'm sure it is something patronizing and wrong. He also told CoolGirl that TurkishLady and I had come to him with "complaints" about her management style. This is an out and out LIE. I most certainly NEVER said anything about CoolGirl to him. If I had a problem with CoolGirl I would more likely send her a note via homing pigeon than tell Dumbass about it.
After a conference today we are finally a united front against the tyranny and incompetance that is our boss. After the weekend there is a plan to speak to his supervisor about the ongoing problems. I predict that the shit will hit the fan. Should be fun.
Meanwhile I will be working on his preformance review.
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