lines in the sand

Line of the day

From a comment on this post

The liars are easy to identify - they are the ones who say things I don't want to believe

Centralization Isn't Always Bad

As a libertarian, I tend to prefer decentralization, but not always.

First, we piped air throughout the house from a central A/C unit, then music from a central player of some sort.  Some of us even have a central vacuum cleaner.  Next, central lighting.

It's not without drawbacks, though -  how will the next generation of cartoonists tell us a character has an idea?

Storm Names

Now that Ernesto is moving on, I wondered what other storm names are planned for this year, so I checked  the list.  Of course, there are really six lists that rotate from year to year and I was disappointed to see that none of them use the name Elliot.  It would have been fun to see the maps and advisories referring to a tropical storm as T. S. Elliot.

New Retirement Rules

Congress has passed and President Bush has said he will sign a bill to make sure private pension plans can afford to pay what they promise.  From Forbes.com, they must

-- make sufficient contributions to meet 100% of funding targets and eliminate all pension deficits in seven years;

-- stop using credit balances if their plans fall beneath 80% funding;

-- use a more realistic interest rate to calculate their pension liabilities;

-- limit interest rate smoothing to two years;

-- stop firms from increasing promised benefits when the plan is 80% or more under-funded; and

-- allow firms to make deductible contributions up to 180% of estimated liability.

Now if they would just make it apply as well to Social Security, especially numbers 1, 2 and most especially, 4.  Of course, number 1 would mean funding $10,000,000,000,000 ($33,000 per American) over the next seven years, number 2 would mean not borrowing from SS for other programs and number 4 would mean not adding or increasing benefits.

I can dream, can't I?

 

Told ya' So

According to NASA's Alan Stern, not only do Earth and Jupiter fail to meet the new definition of a planet, but Mars and Neptune are excluded, too (full disclosure - Stern's job at NASA is running the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.)

A New Scientist article quotes him:

He says only four of the eight objects mentioned in the IAU definition actually meet the definition's criteria – and Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune do not.

The definition stipulates that to be a planet, an object must have cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit. But Earth's orbital neighbourhood is filled with thousands of near-Earth asteroids, Stern says.

And Mars, Jupiter and Neptune have so-called "Trojan" asteroids sharing their orbits. "This is a half-baked criterion for planethood," he says.

The article also points out that fewer than 500 of the IAU's 9000 members voted on the position and that a petition opposing it is circulating among them.

Revised Planet Count

You've probably already heard that Pluto is no longer defined as a planet.  That's because there wasn't a definition until today, and Pluto doesn't fit the one the Internation Astronomer's Union just adopted since it hasn't "cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit."

Keith Cowing points out that by that part of the definition, Earth and Jupiter don't qualify, either.

Getting Hired in the Real World

Want to get a job?  Be likeable.

The most surprising thing in this InformationWeek article is that the surveyors were surprised - "stunned", even.

A survey of 223 senior executives and managers--including tech leaders-- across several industries found that 63% rely on "likeability" and personality of a candidate when making hiring and promotion decisions, according to a new report by research firm NFI Research.

In fact, a candidate's "skills" mattered slightly less than likeability, at 62%.

Apparently, personality isn't just what the managers and executives themselves focus on. The survey found that 64% of the respondents admitted that the likeability of a candidate was also something that their companies or departments relied on when making hiring and promotion decisions.

"We were stunned, the idea that a person relies on personality and likeability vs. delivering results and past performance in those decisions were shocking," says NFI CEO Chuck Martin.

Well, being likeable isn't exactly everything, but the other key factors are pretty closely related, says Martin. Some 73% said they base their hiring and promotion decisions on a candidate's "likelihood to fit in" with the organization; 70% on how the interview with the candidate went; and 69% said a willingness to learn.

Arctic Angel

Came across this picture of one of the Blue Angels taken a few days ago near Ketchikan, Alaska.  Apparently they were on the way back to the lower forty-eight after a three day gig in Angorage.

It’s hard to believe this unit is now 60 years old, born just a couple of miles from me at Jacksonville Naval Air Station in the forties. 

Plane number 6 often appears alone like this, its role being Opposing Solo, which specializes in this type of maneuver, and is currently flown by  LCDR John D. Allison.

There are more Glacierman images here and more about the Blue Angels here.

 

We're No. 1, dammit!!

We're number one on this list!?  Wait 'til I find the s.o.b. who decided that and show him how wrong he is!  He'll be sorry!

Fat and Hungry

Alan Sullivan points out that there are now more fat people than hungry ones and thinks we should celebrate. But

Instead, fretful lefties ponder how to tax eating — for the good of the eaters, of course. It doesn’t occur to them that government is getting obese.

This should be no surprise.  Going through a buffet line last weekend, it was obvious from their plates that the most obese people there were also the hungriest.  Government just runs true to form and gets hugrier as it grows.

Fraudulent Initiatives

An interesting case that could un-amend the state's constitution looks headed for the Florida Supreme Court.

Last time around we got to vote on an amendment to allow Dade County residents to vote on whether slot machines could be permitted in the county.  Some believed that many of the petition signatures that got this proposal on the ballot were fraudulent and filed suit.  Though filed before the election, the case was not to be heard until after the vote, then the court ruled that since the proposal had won approval, the possible fraud no longer mattered and the vote could stand.

An appeals court reversed the decision and it's likely to go on to the Supremes.

If this doesn't stay reversed, I suppose we can also start ignoring the saw our mom's taught us, "The end doesn't justify the means."

HT - Matt Conigliaro.

Tribune Cos. Circulation Up

...well,  by one copy per week, anyway.  It was in my driveway this morning.

Here's how the Trib's subsidiary in Orlando did it:

A long time ago, we were daily subscribers to the Orlando Sentinel (did you know Tribune actually owns the domain Slantinel.com?)  As unopened issues piled up in our recycle bin, we realized the only day we paid attention to was Sunday.  Most of my news came from the Internet and my wife got what she needed from television.  We cancelled and started buying the Sunday issue on the way to or from church.

Of course, that became a bit of a hassle, but the enterprising folks at the paper had a solution for us: we could subscribe to just the Sunday edition, which would be less hassle and less money.  So we did.  It worked great.

After awhile, they made an offer we couldn't refuse (because they didn't actually ask).  To give us more value for our money, they began delivering the Saturday edition as well.  Okay, we look at it sometimes.

Several months later, they added Friday,  then Thursday.  Last week, we received the announcement that our Sunday only subscription would include Wednesdays, too, since that has features not available to us on other days.

With circulation falling at so many newspapers, it looks like the Sentinel has found a creative way to boost theirs.  It's kind of a win-win, too.  They get to peg their ad rates to a higher figure while the recycling company gets even more clean newsprint, neatly rolled and as untouched as it was in the driveway.

By the way, if your company advertises on those partial pages wrapped around the Sunday comics, I don't know who you are.  I make a point of not looking as I remove them, usually with violence and vulgarities.  Anybody else bothered by these?