Checklist of Contract Clauses

Here is an interesting Checklist of Contract Clauses from labor's view:

Recognition
* Recognition of union as the exclusive bargaining representative.
* Explanation of which employees are in the bargaining unit; status of temporary, seasonal, part-time, and intermittent employees.
* Procedure for including or excluding new classifications from the bargaining unit.
* Restrictions on using non-bargaining unit employees to perform bargaining unit work.

Non-Discrimination
* Prohibition against discrimination on various grounds such as sex, race, creed, color, religion, age, national origin, political affiliation or activity, disability, sexual orientation, or union activity. May specifically prohibit sexual harassment.
* Establishment of union representation on affirmative action or equal opportunity committees, where they exist, with union right to designate or elect representatives.

Union rights

* Access of union officials to workplace.
* Right to engage in union activity at work, right of stewards to conduct union business on work time.
* Right to post and distribute union material (bulletin boards, in-house mail service, e-mail).
* Right of union to conduct or participate in employee orientation sessions.
* Right of elected union officials, stewards, and members to leaves of absence for union business.

Union Security
* Type of union security provision (where permissible): union shop, agency shop (fair share), maintenance of membership.
* Penalty for failure by employee or employer to comply with union security provision.
* Process for obtaining fair share or agency shop fees.

Check-Off
* Procedure for payroll deduction of dues, agency fees, and political contributions to PEOPLE.

Bargaining to Organize
* Neutrality language, guaranteeing that the employer will not oppose union organizing in unorganized facilities or agencies.
* Prohibition on the employer and its agents from certain anti-union tactics.
* Card check language (where permissible), providing that the union will be certified based on a majority card check or similar worker "showing of interest" - an expedited alternative to a formal election.
* Accretion language, providing that new facilities and workers added by the employer will be folded into the contract.
* Successorship language, so that if the employer transfers, delegates, privatizes, or otherwise shifts functions, the work and the workers remain covered by the union contract. (Depending on the circumstances, an expedited recognition process and a new contract may be necessary.)
Note: Contact the Research and Collective Bargaining Services Department for a copy of "Bargaining to Organize: Sample and Model Language," which includes numerous examples in these and other categories. A shorter manual, "Using our Power to Build Power: Bargaining to Organize," is also available.

Management Rights
* The employer will likely propose a section that reserves for management all rights not specifically addressed or limited by the contract.
* The union may want to require negotiations prior to the implementation of any changes in working conditions.

Probation
* Length of probationary period, purpose of probationary period, employee status and rights during probationary period.

Grievance Procedure
* Definition of a grievance.

* Stewards' right to use work time for grievance investigations.
* Employees' right to union representation.
* Explanation of each step in grievance procedure and time limits at each step.

Arbitration
* Procedure for selecting arbitrators.
* Agreement on payment of arbitrator.
* Authority of arbitrator to issue final and binding decisions.
* Time limits.
* Expedited arbitration.

Hours of Work, Schedules, and Overtime
* Number of hours in work week and work day.
* Procedure for scheduling.
* Alternative work schedules/flex-time.
* Definition of overtime, pay or compensatory time off, advance notice of overtime, right to refuse overtime, procedures for offering or assigning overtime (connected to seniority rights).
* Staffing and workload standards.
* Meal and rest periods.
* Cleanup and work preparation time.
* Travel time.

Pay Differentials
* Shift schedules and shift differentials.
* Weekend differential.
* Standby or "on-call" pay.
* Reporting/call-back pay.
* Roll call pay.

Seniority
* Definition of seniority -- with employer, in classification, in agency or department.
* Procedure for determining seniority for employees hired on the same day.

Layoff and Recall
* Procedures for layoff based on seniority provisions.
* Prior notification to union of layoffs, right of union to offer alternative proposals or plans.
* Rights of employees to bump into positions of less senior employees.
* Procedures for recalling employees; duration of recall list.

Filling of Vacancies
* Posting of vacancies, procedures for bidding.
* Rules for awarding promotions or transfers, requirement that qualifications be job-related, role of seniority among qualified bidders.
* Provision for trial period with right to return to previous position.

Discipline and Discharge
* Prohibition of discipline or discharge without just cause.
* Establishment of progressive discipline (oral warning, written warning, suspension, discharge), and consideration of mitigating factors.
* List of acts which can result in immediate discharge.
* Notice to union of disciplinary actions.
* Protection for whistle-blowers.
* Notice to employee of right to union representation during potential discipline interview, guarantee to stop interview until representation is provided.
* Limits on employer investigation tactics (e.g., polygraphs or computer voice stress analysis).

Personnel Records
* Employee access to records, right to rebut entries in writing, right to authorize steward or other union representative access to records for grievance processing or other union business, limitation on disclosure of records.
* Limit on time that negative material can remain in file, consistent rules for removing items.

Performance Evaluation
* Criteria for evaluations.
* Frequency of evaluations.
* Right of employee to receive copies of evaluations.
* Right to rebut or grieve performance evaluations.
* Limitations on use of performance evaluations (e.g., not to determine pay, bidding rights, etc.).

Holidays
* Days per year (with dates listed).
* Pay for working on a holiday, right to equivalent time off.
* Number of personal days per year and procedure for using.
* Procedures for assigning holiday work.
* Special circumstances, e.g., one-time holidays declared by the President or Governor.

Vacation
* Days accrued per year.
* Right to take accrued vacation.
* Procedure and time of year for scheduling.
* Role of seniority in scheduling vacations.
* Right to carry over vacation to next year and amount which can be carried over.
* Procedure for payment upon death, resignation, or retirement of employee.
* Pro-rated vacation for part-time employees.

Sick Leave
* Days accrued per year and maximum accumulation.
* Right to use for doctor's appointments.
* Right to use for ill family members.
* Provision for cash out of sick leave.
* Provision for sick leave bank.
* Pro-rated sick leave for part-time employees.
* Interaction of sick leave policy with Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
* Documentation required for sick leave; protections of employee privacy rights.

Leaves of Absence
* Right to take leave, administrative rules for requesting leave, duration of leave, pay during leave, continuation of benefits during leave, and reinstatement after leave.
* Parental leave, including adoption leave.
* Elder care leave.
* Bereavement leave: relatives or household members covered, number of days, extra time when travel required.
* Educational leave, leave to attend professional meetings, sabbaticals.
* Leave for jury duty.
* Military leave with responsibility of employer to hold open same job, shift, other conditions.
* Leave for union business.
* Leave for voting.
* Hostage leave.
* Family and Medical Leave: benefits, if any, in addition to those in law (e.g., longer period of paid leave than required by law), description of employee and employer rights and responsibilities under law.

Job Classifications
* Right of employees to job description.
* Procedure for requesting reclassification and appealing decision.
* Procedure for offering and assigning out-of-class work.
* Pay for working out of classification.
* Time limits on working out of classification.
* Provision for job evaluation and/or pay equity studies.
* Light duty assignments for injured workers.

Wages
* Wage schedule, including step increases.
* Across the board increases for each year of contract.
* Pay for temporary promotion.
* Schedule of pay days.
* Cost-of-living adjustments.
* Longevity pay.
* Severance pay.
* Bilingual pay.
* Lead worker differential.
* Credential/license pay, e.g., commercial drivers license (CDL), continuing education units.
* Pay equity and/or reclassification increases.
* Retroactivity, if any.

Bargaining *Contingency Plans*
* Gainsharing language — linking some part of pay to achievement of certain savings, quality, or productivity goals.
* "If/come" language — providing that if certain conditions occur (such as the employer achieving a budget surplus), a certain raise will be triggered.
* Lump sum or bonus payments — dollar amounts that do not increase base pay.
Note: These tactics should be seen as last resorts when traditional increases cannot be obtained. For more information, see "Bargaining in Uncertain Times."

Benefits
* Health insurance: medical plans offered; employer and employee (if any) contribution to premium payments; supplemental coverage including dental care, vision care, and prescription drug coverage.
* Health care cost containment measures.
* Flexible spending accounts.
* Life insurance.
* Short- and long-term disability insurance.
* Pension plan: details on benefit calculation, vesting rules, early retirement penalties, employer and employee (if any) contributions, etc. (Note: Pensions are addressed in legislation rather than collective bargaining in many jurisdictions.)
* Union health and welfare fund, if any.
* Benefits for part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers; benefits for domestic partners.
* Tax-free savings plan (similar to a 401(k) plan) — in addition to, not instead of, pension plan.

Health and Safety
* Duty of employer to provide healthy and safe working environment.
* Labor/management health and safety committee, with right of union to select members.
* Provision of protective equipment/clothing.
* Protection against hazards of technological equipment.
* Right to refuse hazardous work.
Note: For more information, see "Safety and Health" Checklist.

New Technology
* Advance notice to union when a major technology change is being considered.
* Right of union to suggest alternatives, sit on design or implementation committee, select workers on labor-management teams, etc.
* Training and retraining provisions, right of first refusal and other protections for incumbents.
* Protections against electronic monitoring.

Prohibition of or Limits on Drug Testing
* Testing only based on reasonable suspicion, documentation of reasonable suspicion required.
* Testing by accredited laboratories, description of testing procedures and relevant regulations.
* Assistance for those with substance abuse problem.

Education and Training
* Statement of employer commitment to internal mobility.
* In-service training programs, apprenticeship programs.
* Educational leave, leave to take civil service exams.
* Tuition reimbursement or tuition pre-payment, career counseling.
* Courses at worksites offered during paid time.
* Allocation of money to pay for career mobility programs.
* Establishment of career ladder language or committee to investigate the issue.

Child Care/Elder Care
* Labor/management committee, resource and referral program, subsidy, on-site center, dependent care assistance plan.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
* Confidential program to help employees deal with personal problems, including drug and alcohol abuse.

Labor/Management Committee
* Scope of committee, equal representation of labor and management, meetings and activities on work time, right of union to appoint or elect its representatives, prohibition on LMC dealing with bargaining-related subjects.

Uniforms and Tools
* Allowance for or provision of uniforms and/or tools for affected employees.

Inclement Weather
* Notification of closings
* Personnel who must report, and pay for reporting.

Travel Regulations and Expense Reimbursement Procedures Past Practices
* Provision continuing past practices of employer.

Sub-Contracting
* Prohibition of, or limits on, subcontracting.

No Strike/No Lockout
* Bar on union strikes or employer lockouts during the life of the contract.

Savings Clause
*Provision which states that if any part of the contract is found to be unlawful or invalid, the rest of the contract will remain in force, and the parties will negotiate substitute language for the invalidated portion.

*Zipper* Clause
* Management is likely to propose a prohibition on additional bargaining during the life of the contract, i.e., a statement that the contract is the complete agreement between the parties.

Duration of the Agreement
* Beginning and ending dates of the contract.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

A good team is a precious thing, the book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable, really brings to light how difficult it is to get a good team together and working well. You know when you are apart of a good team and when the team needs work.

The book lists the five dysfunctions of a Team:
1. The first dysfunction is an absense of trust among team members. Essentially, this stems from their unwillingness to be vulnerable within the group. Team members who are not genuinely open with one another about their mistakes and weaknesses make it impossible to build a foundation for trust.
2. This failure to build trust is damaging because it sets the tone for the second dysfunction: fear of conflict. Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.
3. A lack of healthy conflict is a problem because it ensures the third dysfunction of a team: lack of commitment. Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, team member rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, though they may feign agreement during meetings.
4. Because of this lack of real commitment and buy-in, team members develop an avoidance of accountability, the fourth dysfunction. Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviors that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.
5. Failure to hold one another accountable creates an environment where the fifth dysfunction can thrive. Inattention to results occurs when team members put their individual needs (such as ego, career development, or recognition) or even the needs of their divisions above the collective goals of the team.

Truly cohesive teams are obvious
1. They trust one another
2. They engage in unfiltered conflict around ideas
3. They commit to decisions and plans of actions.
4. They hold one another accountable for delivering against those plans.
5. They focus on the achievenment of collective results.

This was found at http://www.anticlue.net/archives/000279.htm

Burning Down the House

Here is a great explanation of the economic meltdown:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4

Calendar Frustration

I am moving to all Mac computers. I find that iCal is great.

I still need to sync with various other calendars. I can export an ics file to update my other Macs and Google and my legacy Outlook machines. I can use outlook to sync my phone. [bother! Macs have a sync application, but it does not recognize my phone model.]

Yahoo! however requires a csv file. They are the only ones in creation. Would you believe there is no way to translate an ics to a csv!!! Proprietary systems are a real pain.

I guess I will try to export Outlook to csv.

The power of powerful questions

From a Jeff Meyers Newsletter:
Jeff Myers, Ph.D., President
Passing the Baton International, Inc.

A few weeks ago I spoke at the Texas State Homeschool Conference on "Winning the hearts of your children without losing your mind." I looked at my watch and realized I had 15 minutes of material but only five minutes left to present (imagine that!).

I told the audience, "We're just about out of time, but if you'll look at your notes I'd like to briefly look at some powerful questions you can ask to coach your children into being thinking leaders rather than passive followers."

I went through the questions so quickly I wasn't at all sure they would be helpful. Yet an hour and a half later one of the attendees told me, "I just coached my six-year old son."

"Really?" I said, stunned.

"Yes. I'm thinking about homeschooling him, and I brought him to the children's program. But he cried and didn't want to go. Instead of forcing him, I just sat next to him and calmly asked the questions from your notes."

"What happened?" I asked.

"It was amazing," she said. "After just a few of the questions he stopped crying, analyzed the source of his fears and came up with a resourceful solution."

What did this mother do differently?

In talking with this mother, I realized that she had used a simple set of powerful questions to approach a difficult situation in an attitude of compassion and curiosity. The actual conversation was quite simple:

"What is going on?"

"I'm afraid to go to the children's program."

"Why do you think you're afraid?"

"Because I don't know anyone there."

"What would you like to see happen?"

"Well, I do have a friend in there but he was assigned to a different class than me."

"What are some things you think you could do?"

"I could ask the people if they would let me be in my friend's class. Then I wouldn't be alone."

"What if they are not able to do that?"
"Then I guess I will try to be brave and have a good time."

This mother just asked questions, listened and helped her little boy solve his own problem. No manipulation. No bribing. Just successful coaching.

How successful coaches do what they do

Coaches succeed in helping people get breakthroughs by cultivating three skills:

1. Coaches learn to listen. Ninety percent of communication is listening, yet most people admit that they're not good at it (and studies show that their colleagues and friends think they're actually worse than they know).

Failing to listen means that you miss 90% of the information you need to relate to others. Imagine cashing your paycheck and throwing 90% of the money away. That is essentially what poor listeners do everyday.

2. Coaches ask powerful questions. Bad questions cause irritation and defensiveness. Good questions stimulate thought and lead to breakthroughs. Studying the art of question-asking leads to clarity and trust.

Coaches practice asking powerful, open-ended questions that enable them to walk alongside people as those people take responsibility for their own leadership development.

3. Coaches help people set worthy goals. Most people have some idea of WHAT they are doing but almost no idea WHY. Goal-setting is a life-transforming skill that can be learned in just a few hours.

If you're a leader, helping others set goals reinforces your credibility and encourages them toward more God-centered, purposeful lives.

My Logo

Sisyphus had too much hubris. He thought that he was better than the gods. They sent him to Hades and made him push a rock up a hill, only to have it roll back down again...and again...forever.

The rest of the story:
Sisyphus got to like it and made a game of it. The gods gave up and set him free.

Updated Photo

I just updated my profile picture.

I recently had a passport photo taken, so I:

1. Scanned it in
   using GIMP I:
   
2. Added a color background
3. Blurred out the throat wrinkles
4. De-shined the forehead
   
5. Added a background rainbow
   

Epic Downtown Photo

The classic flood photo. This picture shows at least four downtown bridges.

Hydrograph

The break in the previous graph is when the water topped the automatic equipment. It had to be reset.

Today's Hydrograph

Treading Water Letter

If you have seen the news lately, you have probably seen that Cedar Rapids is having major flooding. Since we are about one hundred feet above the normal river level, we are high and dry. Here are some interesting facts:

- see pictures at http://www.gazetteonline.com/

- 483 square blocks under water

- 24,000 people have been evacuated, out of a population of 201,000.

- the record flood level has been at 20 feet, recorded in 1929 and 1859. That is before the Civil War. We hit a crest of 32 feet yesterday. 1993 had a stage of 19 feet. The normal flood level is 12 feet.

- we are not forecast to return to 20 feet (the old record) until next Wednesday. It could take a couple of weeks to return to normal level of <12 feet.

- see http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dvn&gage=cidi4&view=1,1,1,1,1,1

- when we were at 24 feet, the amount of water flowing down the Cedar River was equal to the water flowing down the Mississippi at moderate flood stage at the Quad Cities. We are now 8 feet higher.

- Cedar Rapids is down to ONE water well, located at one of the lowest spots in town. Last night 1,200 people helped sandbag it. They said we will probably go to a "boil" order by Sunday.

- We have lost two power stations. We get random power outages. All power in the central business district has been off for two days. Most will be without power for at least a week. Even though the entire city of Palo has been evacuated, the Palo nuclear plant is still on-line, and looked to remain that way.

- Thursday, we helped some friends move everything out of their basement to the second floor. Indian Creek came up about four feet while we were there. We all had to leave when it reached the street (the creek is in a park across the street from them.) Alex said they ended up with some water in the basement.

- Only one of 7 auto bridges across the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids is open. One of the 3 railroad bridges has collapsed, taking 20 railcars with it. They had been parked there to keep the bridge from floating away.

- Thursday night Alex helped with sandbags at Mercy Hospital. They were keeping the Ambulance Entrance open long enough to evacuate the hospital, which they finished this morning as water entered the basement equipment areas. Mercy is a large hospital that is 4-5 blocks outside the 500 year flood plain.

- I went to a Red Cross / FEMA briefing last night. I may go for more training today. More on this later.

- Alyssa is at YMCA Camp Wapsi. The Wapsi River is also at full flood, but the camp is on very high ground. We will pick her up this morning, but may have to be creative in picking a route to get there. We will probably bring several stranded kids home.

- Interstates 80 and 380 are closing for a few days.

We live in interesting times.

OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED - Yahoo! News

OBAMA WAS SELECTED, NOT ELECTED - Yahoo! News

How Countries Get Rich

Foreign Policy: Seven Questions: How Countries Get Rich:

Michael Spence: I was surprised by two things. One, how important the global economy is for developing countries both in terms of demand, meaning the size of the market and your ability to expand it once you get a cost position, and also from the point of view of importing technology or knowledge. But the biggest surprise was how important political leadership is in looking at cases of sustained high growth in developing countries. There’s a whole lot of consensus building and picking the right model, getting everybody on board, making deals with stakeholders like labor and business, and a persistent kind of pragmatic approach with imperfect knowledge about how the economy is going to respond to policy. I started out thinking this was a subject that was mainly about economics, and I ended up thinking that was about half of it, but the other half is really political.

"MS: I don’t think there’s any kind of secret. There are certainly common characteristics of the sustained high-growth cases, and they’re described in some detail in the report. I don’t view them as secrets. But we haven’t been able to find a case where, if you avoid the general approach that’s described there—

1. engagement with the global economy;
2. being careful to bring everybody on board;
3. very high savings and investment levels;
4. a stable macro environment and
5. a pretty heavy reliance on the basic characteristics of market allocation, price signals, and stuff; and
6. being willing to put up with rather chaotic microeconomic dynamics

—you can sustain high growth."

A. Michael Spence is Philip H. Knight professor, emeritus, and former dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. A senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, he is the 2001 winner of the Nobel Prize in economics.

My Life

Schofiled's Quote

Major General John M. Schofield's graduation address to the graduating Class of 1879 at West Point is as follows:

The discipline which makes the soldiers of a free country reliable in battle is not to be gained by harsh or tyrannical treatment. On the contrary, such treatment is far more likely to destroy than to make an army. It is possible to impart instruction and give commands in such a manner and such a tone of voice as to inspire in the soldier no feeling but an intense desire to obey, while the opposite manner and tone of voice cannot fail to excite strong resentment and a desire to disobey. The one mode or other of dealing with subordinates springs from a corresponding spirit in the breast of the commander. He who feels the respect which is due to others cannot fail to inspire in them respect for himself. While he who feels, and hence manifests, disrespect towards others, especially his subordinates, cannot fail to inspire hatred against himself.

Jews defend Hagee's words

My point from yesterday is reinforced:

See the full Washington Times article here,

By Julia Duin - Jewish allies of the Rev. John Hagee rushed to his defense yesterday to say the Texas evangelist is not anti-Semitic despite Sen. John McCain campaign's repudiation Thursday of the evangelist's endorsement.

"John Hagee is one of the Jewish people's best friends," Los Angeles talk show host Dennis Prager said on the air yesterday morning. "Identifying John Hagee with anti-Semitism would be like identifying Raoul Wallenberg, the great Swede who saved thousands of Jews in the Holocaust, with anti-Semitism."

Orthodox Rabbi Aryeh Scheinberg, of Congregation Rodfei Sholom in San Antonio, appeared at an afternoon press conference yesterday to say Mr. Hagee's "words were twisted and used to attack him for being anti-Semitic."

In actuality, Mr. Hagee "interpreted a biblical verse in a way not very different from several legitimate Jewish authorities," the rabbi said.

"Viewing Hitler as acting completely outside of God's plan is to suggest that God was powerless to stop the Holocaust, a position quite unacceptable to any religious Jew or Christian," the rabbi said.
more...

Classic Movie Sound Bites

There are four classic movie sound bites:

1. The Wilhelm Yell
2. The Goofy Holler
3. The Tarzan Yell
4. The Castle Thunder

All are available on Wikipedia

McCain Shows His True Colors

John McCain showed his true colors today when he repudiated John Hagee's sermon expounding how good can come from evil.

Either McCain doesn't believe what scripture tells us in Habakkuk, Amos, Daniel, Romans and hundreds of other scriptures...or he does believe but does not have the moral backbone to stand up for his beliefs.

Either way disqualifies him for public office.

You can link to the Wall Street Journal article here.

In case the link is gone:

"Mr. Hagee, who endorsed the Republican candidate in February, delivered a sermon in the late 1990s in which he appeared to explain how something good could come from a tragic event.

"A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says...'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,'" Mr. Hagee preached. "God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel."

"Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them," Sen. McCain said Thursday. "I feel I must reject his endorsement." "

McCain is just part of the Anti-God Group.

America OnLine

I am really getting frustrated with AOL. I need to start the process of shifting to mchsi.

My Favorite Books

The Bible (NIV or NASB),
Getting to Yes, Getting Past No,
Winning Teams,
Managing Transitions,
Atlas Shrugged,
any Heinlein except Job,
My Utmost for His Highest,
Herding Cats,
Don't Sing Songs to a Heavy Heart,
Shogun, Whirlwind, Noble House,
Dune,
The Foundation Trilogy,
The Five Points of Calvinism,
Practicing the Presence of God,
The Mote in the God's I,
Godel Escher Bach,
The theory of Games and Economic Behavior,
The Light and the Glory, From Sea to Shining Sea,
The Civil War:A Narrative (triology)

My Favorite Movies

Casablanca,
Gandhi,
Animal House,
Patton,
Honeysuckle Rose,
Star Wars I-III,
Apocalypse Now,
Sin City,
The Searchers,
African Queen,
In Harm's Way,
Streets of Fire,
Gladiator, Hero (in Chinese with English subtitles),
Godfather I+II+III,
Lord of the Rings,
All Monty Python,
both Blues Brothers,
Casino Royale,
Saving Private Ryan,
Big Trouble in Little China,
anything with Diane Lane,
anything with Kathleen Turner,
Once Upon a Time in America,
Mash,
Blazing Saddles,
Flashdance,
Death Hunt,
Swimming to Cambodia,
Real Genius,
Top Gun,
The Man Who Would Be King,
Driving School,
Urban Cowboy,
The Name of the Rose

Noodles Through a Goose

I just found out that neither Google nor Yahoo! has a single hit on the phrase "noodles through a goose". Unbelievable! I have used that phrase for years.

"That beer went through me faster than noodles through a goose."

The phrase comes from the practice of Chinese goose farmers. When they want to take their geese to market, they feed a noodle to the first goose, with a string attached. The noodle passes through the goose non-stop. Then they feed the noodle the the next goose...and the next....and the next. After it passes through the final goose, they tie the string to a stick. Then they can lead all of the geese down the road to town without the geese running away.

I think I will add this to the Urban Dictionary.

Neat Manuals

A really good Risk Communication Manual can be found here.

An excellent manual on Crisis Defusion can be found here.

Likewise, a really good manual on Aggression Management Communication can be found here. This manual is written for parole officers and prison guards, but also applies to situations where one party is in authority and the other party is resentful of authority.

The basic steps are:

Set clear goals.

1. Limits and conditions
2. Cooperation
3. Clear Channel of Communication
   

Depersonalize Conflict

1. "It's nothing personal"
2. Depersonalize your authority
3. Depersonalize constraints
4. Depersonalize conflict
   

Personalize Cooperation

1. An internal attitude
2. A message
3. Does not compromise limits and controls
   

Offer Choices

1. Offer choices. The more aggressive they are, the more choices they need
2. Force conscious and deliberate choices
3. Effect of Choices
   - soften coercion and controls
   - implies respect
   - communicates confidence
   - diverts automatic reactions
   - places responsibiliy
4. Presenting Choices:
   -Communicate: “It’s up to you.”
   -Take the threat out of consequences.
   -Convey your readiness to deal with any choice.

Conduct a Thinking Report-An objective report of what goes on in a person’s mind during a specific situation and period of time.

1. Effects of a Thinking Report
   -“objectify” emotional experiences.
   -defuse emotional conflict.
   -present a neutral focus of attention for officer and client.
   -display targets for change: cognitive interventions.
2. Thinking Report Steps
   -A brief description of the situation.
   -A detailed report of thoughts.
   -A brief report of feelings.
   -(the extra step) Identification of any significant patterns
   displayed in the thinking report.
   

Healthy Churches Require Healthy Leaders

The following are my notes from a speech by Dr. James Farmer, given to the Linn County Association of Evangelicals on April 10th, 2008.

Healthy churches require spiritually healthy leaders.

Text: Exodus 17:1-6 God's instructions to Moses concerning his response to the bellyaching Israelites

1. Walk Ahead of the People.
Moses did this reluctantly. It was outside of his comfort zone.
Moses did this with humility. There was no arrogance or Pride.
Pastors must lead by example.

2. Take Some Elders With You. Build Disciples.
Develop, Empower, and release others.
This process is relational. It must be systemic and intentional.
Building superstars is not the goal.
Paul Johanson: Look for the call of God in young people and walk with them.
Build Disciples, Not Decisions
Dr. Paul Leavenworth: focused on a group fo 12-15 young people; impacted a wider group of
30-40 people

3. Take the Staff I Gave You to Strike the Nile
We all have spiritual gifts (God-given, not natural)
There are 3 lists of Grace Gifts in Scripture
This is a calling; a divine appointment
Be authentically genuinely you; You are dead, it is Christ in you.

4. Go! I will Stand Before You.
Step Out in faith.

Star survey reaches 70 sextillion

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Ever wanted to wish upon a star? Well, you have 70,000 million million million to choose from.

That's the total number of stars in the known universe, according to a study by Australian astronomers.

It's also about 10 times as many stars as grains of sand on all the world's beaches and deserts.

The figure -- 7 followed by 22 zeros or, more accurately, 70 sextillion -- was calculated by a team of stargazers based at the Australian National University.

• ten times more than the number of grains of sand on Earth
• eleven times the number of cups of water in all the Earth's oceans
• ten thousand times the number of wheat kernels that have ever been produced on Earth
• one hundred million times more than the number of ants in all the world
• one hundred million times the dollar value of all the market-priced assets in the world
• ten billion times the number of cells in a human being
• one hundred billion times the number of letters in the 14 million books in the Library of Congress

See articles at:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/star_count_030722.html
http://info.anu.edu.au/ovc/Media/Media_Releases/_2003/_030717StarCount.asp

New Office at River of Life

Here are examples of the Serve The City office layout at River of Life.:


This is version one:











Version two:












Version 4 (there is no picture of Version 3)

On-Star

I own a 2003 Chevy.
I just got another letter from On-Star.

The letter said:
1) Your analog system is turned off.
2) It will cost you $15 for us to upgrade our system on your car.
3) You must sign up for a full year of a one year Safe & Sound subscription for $199.
4) If I don't sign up by TOMORROW, they will charge me an additional $100.

Bite Me On-Star!
I don't need or want your Safe & Sound subscription.
If you want to have my business, upgrade it yourself. Then I will go back to the month-to-month, pay-for-minutes-used plan that I had been using.

Don't make me pay for your mistakes.

By the way, what happened to my unused minutes? Must have been stolen by some thieves.

I wonder where they will be working next....

Alex and Jenny Video

Here is a video of Alex and his main squeeze, Jenny. It was taken by Spencer Walrath under false pretenses.

I am an INTP - Watch Out

My Score: INTP - the Architect

I scored: 18% I to E, 36% N to S, 66% F to T, and 63% J to P!

Here is the discription, edited from third person to first:

I am more introverted than extroverted. I am more intuitive than observant; more thinking based than feeling based; and prefer to go with the flow rather than have a routine. The single word to describe my type is the Architect, which belongs to the larger group of rationals. I wish to sculpt the world around me. Others often find me arrogant, yet I have no desire to direct others, only to inform them. I must know the structure of things, and have a voracious appetite for knowledge. I am very rational in everything you do, and probably consider myself smarter than most.

As a romantic partner, I can be playful with great energy to get things started, but not quite as good on follow through. I may have a tendency to hurt the more emotional types unintentionally by not sharing my own reactions and feelings as I can get swept up in my own ideas and projects. I want to be appreciated for my ability to respond quickly and to fix problems creatively. I need plenty of time to myself - therefore my parnter must respect your need for independence and originality.

Your group summary: Rationals (NT)

Your type summary: INTP

Software Development Rules

From a Wikipedia article on "The Mythical Man Month" by Fred Brooks.

I wish I had known this years ago, although it looks as though I had done a lot of things right.

The Mythical Man-Month
Assigning more programmers to a project running behind schedule will make it even later, due to the time required for the new programmers to learn about the project, as well as the increased communication overhead. When N people have to communicate among themselves (without a hierarchy), as N increases, their output M decreases and can even become negative (i.e. the total work remaining at the end of a day is greater than the total work that had been remaining at the beginning of that day, such as when many bugs are created).
Group Intercommunication Formula: n(n − 1) / 2
Example: 50 developers -> 50(50 − 1) / 2 = 1225 channels of communication

The Second-system effect
The second system an engineer designs is the most dangerous system he will ever design, since he will tend to incorporate all of the additions he originated but did not add (due to the inherent time constraints) to the first system. Thus, when embarking upon a second system an engineer should be mindful that he is susceptible to over-engineering it.

Progress Tracking
Question: How does a large software project get to be one year late? Answer: One day at a time! Incremental slippages on many fronts eventually accumulate to produce a large overall delay. Continued attention to meeting small individual milestones is required at each level of management.

Conceptual Integrity
To make a user-friendly system, the system must have conceptual integrity, which can only be achieved by separating architecture from implementation. A single chief architect (or a small number of architects), acting on the user's behalf, decides what goes in the system and what stays out. A "super cool" idea by someone may not be included if it does not fit seamlessly with the overall system design. In fact, to ensure a user-friendly system, a system may deliberately provide fewer features than it is capable of. The point is that if a system is too complicated to use, then many of its features will go unused because no one has the time to learn how to use them.

The Manual
What the chief architect produces are written specifications for the system in the form of the manual. It should describe the external specifications of the system in detail, i.e., everything that the user sees. The manual should be altered as feedback comes in from the implementation teams and the users.

The Pilot System
When designing a new kind of system, a team will design a throw-away system (whether it intends to or not). This system acts as a pilot plant that reveals techniques that will subsequently cause a complete redesign of the system. This second smarter system should be the one delivered to the customer, since delivery of the pilot system would cause nothing but agony to the customer, and possibly ruin the system's reputation and maybe even the company's.

Formal Documents
Every project manager should create a small core set of formal documents which acts as the roadmap as to what the project objectives are, how they are to be achieved, who is going to achieve them, when they are going to be achieved, and how much they are going to cost. These documents may also reveal inconsistencies that are otherwise hard to see.

Project Estimation
When estimating project times, it should be remembered that compilers are three times as hard to write as application programs. And systems programs are three times as hard to write as compilers, and the use of a suitable high-level language may dramatically improve programmer productivity. Also, it should be kept in mind how much of the work week will actually be spent on technical issues rather than administrative ones or other non-technical ones, such as meetings or sick leaves.

Communication
To avoid disaster, all the teams working on a project should remain in contact with each other in as many ways as possible (e-mail, phone, meetings, memos etc.) Instead of assuming something, the implementer should instead ask the architects to clarify their intent on a feature he is implementing, before proceeding with an assumption that might very well be completely incorrect.

The Surgical Team
Much as a surgical team during surgery is led by one surgeon performing the most critical work himself while directing his team to assist with or overtake less critical parts, it seems reasonable to have a "good" programmer develop critical system components while the rest of a team provides what is needed at the right time. Additionally, Brooks muses that "good" programmers are generally 5-10 times as productive as mediocre ones.

Code Freeze and System Versioning
Software is invisible. Therefore, many things only become apparent once a certain amount of work has been done on a new system, allowing a user to experience it. This experience will yield insights, which will change a user's needs or the perception of the user's needs. The system should, therefore, be changed to fulfill the changed requirements of the user. This can only occur up to a certain point, otherwise the system may never be completed. At a certain date, no more changes would be allowed to the system and the code would be frozen. All requests for changes should be delayed until the next version of the system.

Specialized Tools
Instead of every programmer having his own special set of tools, each team should have a designated tool-maker who may create tools that are highly customized for the job that team is doing, e.g., a code generator tool that spits out code based on a specification. In addition, system-wide tools should be built by a common tools team, overseen by the project manager.

Lowering Software Development Costs
There are two techniques for lowering software development costs that Brooks writes about:

Implementers may be hired only after the architecture of the system has been completed (a step that may take several months, during which time prematurely-hired implementers may have nothing to do).

Another technique Brooks mentions is not to develop software at all, but to simply buy it "off the shelf" when possible.

Apple, Itunes, and Ipods

I finally did it! This die-no-sow-er gave up on WinTel computers and moved to Apple.

My son needed a computer for college and wanted some heavy music software. So he asked for a Powerbook. I came, I saw, I bought.

My wife also wanted her own computer for the kitchen. The tower pc in the basement was not convenient and was complicated. So...I got a mini-mac for her with a larget 3rd party screen and put it in the kitchen. She loves it!

I got a free Ipod Nano (4 gigs = .004T) for buying from Apple.

Until now, I was terrified of the Ipod's "Do Not Disconnect!" message and the weird control. My kids were always yelling at me for touching theirs, so I didn't

Now, I have my own. I figured out the control after a 30 second demo from my son and a quick look at the documentation.

It took a little longer to figure out Itunes, but I got it done. I just spent a whole day (my only day off this month) loading of 2 gigs of my music that should take 1.8 days to listen once. Whew! What a device.

No wonder the morons at the RIAA are scared! Itunes will eat their lunch. If they would only get with it instead of fight it, they will become a utility and make billions more than now.

Cross the Line - Lyrics by Kiley Dean

I heard these lyrics long ago. It took a while to find the singer.
She had web site with scrolling lyrics.

I thought I would try this out:

Kiley Dean - Cross The Line Lyrics

[Timbaland]

Oh, oh

Oh, oh

Y'all remember this one

A Timbaland classic

Oh, oh

C'mon Kiley

I barely know his name

I know he seems real cool

He ain't about no games

I think I like this dude

But I'mma play it low

And hope he doesn't see that I

Am gettin' kinda comfortable

I'mma let him know this time

I know you wanna cross the line

(I know)

I know you wanna cross the line

But I can't let ya

(Oh, no, no, no)

I know you wanna cross the line

I know you wanna cross the line

But I just met ya

(No, no)

You make me wanna cross the line

(You make me)

You make me wanna cross the line

(Wanna cross the line)

It's official

But I ain't gonna cross the line

(No, no, no)

I ain't gonna cross the line

Now even wit ya

He's pretty sweet on me

He even told me so

And when he touches me

I wanna tell him no

But then he's in my ear

Whispering things to me

Gotta say stop right here

Cause I can't take the heat

I know you wanna cross the line

(Oh no, no, no, no)

I know you wanna cross the line

But I can't let ya

(I can’t let ya)

I know you wanna cross the line

I know you wanna cross the line

But I just met ya

(Oh, no, no)

You make me wanna cross the line

(You make me wanna cross the line)

You make me wanna cross the line

It's official

But I ain't gonna cross the line

(But I ain't gonna cross the line)

I ain't gonna cross the line

(I ain't gonna cross the line)

Now even wit ya

You different from the other guys

(Oh)

I ain't even gonna try and lie

(I ain't gonna lie)

It's true we got a crazy vibe

And ya givin me the bedroom eyes

(Yeah, yeah)

No I don't wanna compromise

Cause I know it really won't be right

(Oh, it won't be right no, no)

I know you wanna cross the line

But I don't wanna cross the line

(But I don't wanna cross the line)

I know you wanna cross the line

(Oh, no)

I know you wanna cross the line

(I know you wanna)

But I can't let ya

I know you wanna cross the line

(I know you wanna)

I know you wanna cross the line

(Cross the line, oh, oh, oh)

But I just met ya

You make me wanna cross the line

You make me wanna cross the line

(Make me wanna cross the line)

It's official

But I ain't gonna cross the line

(I ain't gonna cross the line)

I ain't gonna cross the line

Now even wit ya

No, I ain't gonna cross the line

No

Hey, no

Oh, yeah




More Kiley Dean Lyrics...

Awesome Saturdy: Kid Brag

What a day yesterday!

It started with Alex competing in round one of the regional Mock Trial competition. I was not there, but everyone said he did extremely well. They won round one.

Next, Alyssa performed with her show choir [McKinley's Classic Edition] at the Xavier competition. She was front and center in every dance, including the couples dance that she learned 10 minutes before showtime, covering for a sick dancer. Her dancing and expression were absolutely outstanding. That performance was at 9:45. Then she and Bobbie left for the Riverside dance competition. They made the night round at Xavier.

Alyssa performed a solo, two small group, and a production number at the Riverside competition. She scored very well in all of them.

I watched Alex in the next two rounds of Mock Trial competition. They were on defense both times. He was superb! He knows his stuff and really likes to ham it up. He was called out by name as a superb witness in one round and his team was commended for their witnesses in the last round. They won the last round against one of the perennial powerhouses, by 3 points out of 150. Both Washington HS teams advanced to state competition. Wow!

Then I returned to the Xavier competition. Alyssa and 3 other dancers made a mad, high-speed dash from Riverside to Xavier (45-50 miles) in 35 minutes, including traffic. They went directly from their cars to the stage. Another awesome performance! They got second overall, even though they won the vocal and outscored the winner in choreography...Hmmmm? Politics abound.

Both kids made us really, really proud! Sinfully so. They combined excellent technical skills with the ability to perform in front of people with confidence and presence. What more could a parent want? Prayer works

Flying Video

One of PBerry's best work. Levitation and all!

STAR WARS Episode XXVII: A Newer Hope

Here is one of Patrick Berry's famous videos. Alex is one of the actors...if you call that acting

More Interview Techniques

The following can be found at:
http://www.notrain-nogain.org/Train/Res/Report/intv.aspThe Really great interview

By Bill McAuliffe, Star Tribune Staff Writer

Questions like ``What happened then?'' are fine if you're after plot. Questions like ``So, Senator, this $3 million appropriation will go directly into your wife's bank account?'' are fine if you're after the kill.

But if you're after character, the quirky, random and apparently irrelevant can work wonders.

Last March I was listening to Terry Gross (of National Public Radio's ``Fresh Air'') interview musician Chris Isaak. There was a lot of talk about Isaak's audience and influences and what he wanted to accomplish with his new album. Then Gross asked him to ``redeem'' any piece of music he felt needed redemption. He picked up his guitar and played, solo/acoustic, Pat Boone's ``Love Letters in the Sand.''

Not only was it a stunning surprise and riveting radio, but it also led to a discussion about the 1950s, how (in Isaak's view) Boone's talent and reputation had been ruined by one movie, and how important Connie Francis had been to Isaak.

I didn't know this at the time, but Gross (who returned my phone call) said that she often asks musicians to redeem a piece of music and that she does so in advance, to give them time to prepare an answer and a song. But she agreed that it's a good tool for revelation.

``Even the hip people love some things not considered hip,'' Gross said. ``I assume I can learn something about the music and the person by finding out what those songs are.''

The value of the surprise question, Gross added, is something she learned from the television talk show.

``I learned from Dick Cavett that you can ask anything, no matter how bizarre or irrelevant it may seem, and it might lead in a really interesting direction,'' she said.
Gross's other point on the surprise question: Don't censor yourself. Just ask.

Sometimes even a silly question produces a kill. Last fall several of us on the metro team, looking for diversion during the mayoral races, compiled a list of a dozen or so questions for each candidate that had nothing to do with politics. There were questions about the best car you ever owned, the worst job, etc.

One question, dreamed up by Curt Brown, was ``What's your favorite Bob Dylan song?''

Well, duh, if you're a politician, you'd answer ``Blowin' in the Wind'' or ``The Times They Are a-Changin','' right?

Not Mark Stenglein. He said he didn't know any Bob Dylan songs.

Stenglein finished fourth out of four major candidates in the DFL primary for mayor of Minneapolis. At one point in the campaign he confided that his answer to the Dylan question caused him more grief than any ``real'' issue.

Interviewing: The Sawatsky method
Canadian investigative reporter John Sawatsky trains investigative journalists on how to conduct interviews. In his view, reporters engage in too much baiting, accusing and ambushing; they make too many statements and express too much opinion. Reporters who go into interviews prepared merely to ask neutral, open-ended questions get the best stuff.

Reporter Susan Paterno wrote about Sawatsky's methods in a piece that ran in the American Journalism Review in October 2000. Some of his suggestions, according to her story:

• Avoid making a statement during an interview.
  
• Avoid asking a question a source can answer with yes or no.
  
• Sound conversational, but never engage in conversation.
  
• Try for open-ended, neutral questions that begin with ``what.'' For instance, instead of asking Sarah Ferguson, ``Is it hard being a duchess?'' ask, ``What's it like being a duchess?'' Instead of asking Ronald Reagan, ``Were you scared when you were shot?'' ask, ``What's it like to be shot?''
  
• Resist the temptation to converse, sympathize and add value or meaning to questions. Use short, neutral questions that repeat the source's own words. If the source makes a judgment - for example, ``Brian can be excessive at times'' - follow up with: ``What do you mean, excessive?''
  

Sawatsky has trained journalists all over Canada; in the United States, he's conducted seminars at several newspapers and the Poynter Institute.
(To read the AJR piece, look up the October 2000 issue of AJR.)

Here's more interviewing advice from other journalists around the country. Some of it contradicts Sawatsky and others, but all of it is interesting. It's useful to think about new methods of talking to sources and to employ different techniques at different times, depending on what you're after.

Interviewing: Advice from all over

Make it a conversation - but never forget it's an interview.
What I enjoy most about Terry Gross is that listening in on the interviews is like listening in on a conversation. True, she asks good questions, but she also is great at expressing interest, surprise, skepticism.
That builds on one of the best pieces of advice I ever got about interviewing, which is to approach interviews with the idea that you're having a conversation. As such, the best answers aren't necessarily going to be elicited by questions. A statement from the reporter can lead to a really good answer.
One caveat in all of this is that the reporter ought not be voicing opinions or taking over the ``conversation.'' The person being interviewed should be allowed to speak!
- Nancy Weil, IDG News Service, Boston

Keep in mind some good questions, such as . . .
The question I teach my students to ask, always, when racial or other stereotypes seem to be at issue, is ``How do you know that?'' It tends to justify comments that could be misconstrued, and of course it exposes bigots.
- John Miller, director of newspaper journalism, Ryerson University, Toronto

What makes you say that? What happened next? If you ask a yes-no question, you'll get a yes-no answer.
- Susan Ager, Detroit Free Press

Three basic questions that even experienced reporters seldom ask often enough:
1) What does that mean?
2) Can you give me an example?
3) Has that ever happened before? (Or, How often does that happen?)
- Lex Alexander, Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record

One of the best interviewing lessons I ever learned was courtesy of a business reporter grilling Tom Ridge, then the governor of Pennsylvania, about the expansion of a Lucent plant in our area. She had asked him about the state's role in the project. Ridge gave a perfunctory 15-second political answer, and Wendy stood, unmoving. She looked up at him and said, ``And?'' He talked for another 30 seconds. She said, ``And?'', and he went on for five full minutes explaining in detail how his office worked with Lucent to bring the new complex to the state.
The lesson, of course, is don't let the source get away with a nonanswer. By being courteous yet persistent, she got what no other reporter there got.
- Joe McDermott, Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call

Fish for figures of speech. Questions can stimulate imaginative answers. Whats it like?
- Cindy Stiff, The Freedom Forum

What led up to this? Who did what? How did it work? Reporters are often so focused on the present and future that they neglect that gold mine, the past.
Also, ``Tell me a story from your childhood'' and ``If you could choose, what would you be doing ----- years from now?'' These two questions are obvious, but they do often produce surprising answers that may pep up an otherwise predictable picture. Even if the reporter doesn't use them, they can soften up a stiff interview, make the subject more human and complex, and give the reporter insight. Ditto, a question about the road not taken: ``If you hadn't become a -----, what might you have done?''
- Kate Long, Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette

Remember this phrase: evergreen questions. These are simple questions that can be used over and over to get people to open up. You could make a list of almost any length of such questions.
Some samples:
What was the worst thing that ever happened to you?
What was the best day of your life?
Who was the person who most influenced you, and how?
If you were writing your epitaph, what would you say?
You could easily list 25 or 30 evergreen questions. They come in handy not only for profiles, but also for other stories. This doesn't mean, of course, that you will go methodically through the whole list when you interview someone. The idea is that you can pick a question that seems appropriate or that might help restart a flagging conversation. Evergreen questions can turn up information you might not otherwise get. They can get a person to talking and telling you something real instead of telling you what the person thinks would be nice to say.
- John Rains, The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer

Give something back to the source.
You can't just call them up and demand information; you have to tell them stuff, too, to make a conversation with you worth their while. And respect their time; if they know you're going to keep them on the phone forever, they're going to be much less likely to return your calls.
- Buster Olney, the New York Times

Allow for silence.
A key to interviewing is allowing periods of silence to stretch a little. People are uncomfortable with it and will talk just to fill up the space. Sometimes if you just let silence hang, the source will expand on what he/she just said because he/she can't stand the silence.
- Connie McNamara, Pennsylvania Newspaper Assoc.

Ask throw-away questions.
It's handy to keep a few ``throw-away questions'' ready. Questions you don't really need the answers to for your story or don't care about or have asked before, or whatever. Toss those out when you want to have a minute to focus on jotting notes about the environment, body language, etc., so that you don't need to pay a lot of attention to the answer.
- Weil, Boston

Use the tools at your disposal: respect, humor, doughnuts.
I always, always go into an interview knowing that no person has to talk to me, even public officials. I'm respectful of that. I do a bit of a Columbo routine, usually, which is more real than artifice. I generally find something, either in the person's office or general background (hometown, college) that I can draw a connection to. I use a lot of humor to dispel people of the notion that reporters are blood-sucking automatons. Sometimes I bring doughnuts.
And then I let the conversation follow a natural flow. If there's something that I want to return to, I make a note on the back of my notebook. Sometimes, instead of saving the hardest questions for last, I bring them up early - to keep the interviewee from conforming to a series of prearranged answers. And I always make sure that the door is open for a return call or visit.
As for tricks in approaching questions about difficult matters, a friend uses: ``How would you respond to someone who would question the ethics of . . .'' etc.
- Dan Barry, the New York Times

Prepare.
To ask good questions you must be prepared to ask good questions.
That means, whenever possible, doing research on the subject and coming up with initial questions before the interview; understanding how much time you'll have to ask the questions; having an idea of the environment in which your interview will be conducted; and identifying your `tough questions` and setting up other ways to ask them when and if the subject dodges.
Also: Be interested. If you ask boring questions, be prepared to get boring answers.
- Curtis Hubbard, the Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera

Keep Alive Posting

This is just a post to keep this blog alive.

Wednesday

Spent the morning day-trading. Could have a $3,000 day before it's over.
It's amazing how smart you look when the market is up 122 points.

I also spent the morning trying to get spybot to work on my main machine. I upgraded to the current version, but it still hangs up. When I try to use the taskmanager, it shows that taskmanager is using 100% of the cpu processing power. Wierd. Then everything hangs up.

Grades Are Out

My son, a high school sophmore, has run up against one of those teachers.

The school has a system that sends out very detailed grade reports at the push of a button.

His Spanish teacher sent out a mid-term grade report that showed a score of 103%, including extra credit items.

She sent out no reports until the final grade.

He got a B+! His average was 87%. His final exam score was 85% and counted as 10% of the grade. The report stated that he had no missing assignments. Ergo, he must have had an average score of about 60% for the second half of the semester. For him, this is very, very unlikely.

He wants to handle the negotiations himself. This kind of thing has happened with this teacher before and he was able to get things turned around.

Part of the problem is that the teacher is barely computer literate. She also has about 400 students, so she is always way behind in grading papers. She does not know how to handle grading on the curve on the computer, which takes come skill.

This will be interesting.

Changes?

I wonder where the titles went.

They now only appear on the index.

I rechecked my settings.
It must be part of the template.

First Snow of the Year

We finally got the first snow of the year. It was only 1"-2" inches overnight and was gone by 1 p.m.

We actually got some flurries on Saturday. The first grader across the street was sitting on the front steps in full snow gear (including goggles) holding his sled. He wanted to use it sooo much, but the snow was not sticking.

He actually did get to use it this morning.

The snow was, of course, beautiful. Large flakes and no wind. It hung on the trees and left an eerie feeling.

Neat Weather Site

Here is the National Weather Service forecast for Cedar Rapids, IA.

This is the way forecasts ought to be presented.

Interesting Questions

If you throw a cat out of the car window, does it become kitty litter?
If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn?
Is it OK to use the AM radio after noon?
What do chickens think we taste like?
What do people in China call their good plates?
What do you call a male ladybug?
What hair color do they put on the driver's license of a bald man?
When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?
Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?
Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?
Why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor when you can't drink and drive?
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?
Why are there Interstates in Hawaii?
Why are there flotation devices in the seats of planes instead of parachutes?
Why are cigarettes sold at gas stations where smoking is prohibited?
Have you ever imagined a world without hypothetical situations?
How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work?
If the 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why does it have locks on the door?
Why is a bra singular and panties plural?
You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes?
Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?
If a firefighter fights fire and a crime fighter fights crime, what does a freedom fighter fight?
If they squeeze olives to get olive oil, how do they get baby oil?
If a cow laughs, does milk come out of her nose?
If you are driving at the speed of light and you turn your headlights on, what happens?
Why do they put Braille dots on the keypad of a drive up ATM?
Why is it that when you transport something by car it is called shipment, but when you transport something by ship it's called cargo?
Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?
What would Geronimo say if he jumped out of an airplane?
Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?

Just a Rainy Day update

This is just a "keep alive" Posting

I have Retired!

Yeah! I officially retired on Saturday, but with terminal leave and just leaving, I haven't worked since the end of February.

See my retirement journal for details.

Allow Me to Rant

A couple of days into very month ,finance gives a "flash report" on sales. They then have a process that takes a couple of days to make changes and to provide a variance analysis.

The Pointy-Haired Boss, however, demands to see a detailed variance analysis based on the preliminary data...and see it instantly...and asks me instead of finance. This kills a whole day of my time AND a whole day of finance time AND creates a new set of numbers to variance from.

EMS MAGAZINE.com

EMS MAGAZINE.com: "The Write Stuff: Telling EMS Stories
By Brent Braunworth
A review of Brent Braunworth's book, Blood, Guts and Tears: True Stories of Courage, appeared in the June 2001 issue of EMS Magazine. In the following article, Brent shares some tips on how to get published.
One of my reasons for becoming a firefighter/paramedic, aside from saving lives and property, and helping people, was because of the great stories that could be told. Let's face it, every one of us in our business has been at a party or some social gathering and had some regular Joe ask, 'Hey, were you on that call?' or, perhaps, 'Have you ever been on a call like that?' And when we answer, what happens? All eyes are on us, and all ears are turned in our direction. Total silence, just like E.F. Hutton.
I look at writing as simply putting a 'good story' down on paper. Now, if you already have a 'good story,' so much so that when you tell the story people listen and seem interested, then I figure that's 95% of the battle of writing. Ask any newspaper reporter, and he or she will tell you that getting the story is the hard part, not writing it.
So, if you have a good story, what's next? Transferring it to paper. This article is about how I started.
There's no doubt I had a need to write (I wrote my first, still unpublished novel at age 14), but that doesn't mean that everyone has to sit in a dark, locked room, typing away and poring over manuscripts all night, night after night, to be a writer. Maybe you're interested in trying a short type of story and don't know how to get started. What I did was get some adventure-style books and stories similar to what I thought I might like to write. Back then, I read a lot of Joseph Wambaugh, figuring the police genre was similar to a firefighter's. Af"

Hints to Turbocharge Your Manuscript

EMS MAGAZINE.com: "Hints to Turbocharge Your Manuscript
By Charles E. Stewart, MD, FACEP
1. Print it out and read it. (You can't get the flavor staring at the monitor.)
2. Read it out loud. This is a simple polishing tool for your manuscript.
3. Simplify…Simplify…Simplify.
4. Fine-tune your organization. Does the same subject show up in two or
three different places?
5. Add periods—make your sentences about 17–20 words long.
6. Cut the flab—anything that doesn't add to the ideas will take away from
your manuscript.
7. Advance the story. Every word should move you forward.
8. Be specific. You must use the right word for each concept—be ruthless!
9. Strengthen your verbs. Concrete nouns and verbs add action to your
writing.
10. Define your terms. Do you take for granted terms that your reader needs
to know?
11. Look for loose ends. Put yourself in the reader's shoes—poor planning
and organization will leave your reader hanging.
12. Convert negatives to positives.
13. Streamline sentences.
14. Eliminate expletives.
15. Scrutinize your paragraphs. Does each paragraph deal with one point or
idea?
16. Check your pronouns—does each noun agree with each pronoun?
17. Work your nouns and verbs—use the right noun so that you won't need
an adverb.
18. Check for parallel construction. Headings should be similar in
construction. Elements in a series should be alike.
19. Ferret out repetition. The same words should not be used too often or
too close together.
20. Go active. Passive voice will leave the reader bored.
21. Eliminate the prepositional phrase—use a separate sentence.
22. Delete clichés.
23. Get a second opinion. Have someone else"

"Chuck's Writing Checklist for Nonfiction

EMS MAGAZINE.com: "Chuck's Writing Checklist for Nonfiction
By Charles E. Stewart, MD, FACEP
Planning?
Why did I consider this topic?
Did I analyze my audience?
Did I analyze the targeted journal/magazine's usual publications (if appropriate)?
What is the deadline? (How much other work do I have to do?)
Is there a special consideration, format, length or word count?
Should I use a particular style manual for this manuscript?
Did I select a logical method of organization such as chronology, importance or spatial order?
Did I shape the writing by finding the best way to organize the material?
Did I group similar ideas?
Did I reject nonessential ideas?
Did I select the proper tone?
Did I order ideas in a logical way?
Did I outline key points?
Do I have an introduction, body and summary?
Did I draft by writing my ideas in sentences and paragraphs?
Did I revise my draft and rethink my ideas?
Did I remove anything that is illogical?
Did I cut unnecessary words, sentences and paragraphs?
Did I rewrite confusing passages?
Did I edit and proof my writing? (Really—you need to print it out and read it!)
Did I spell-check and physically reread for errors in spelling?
Did I check for grammatical errors?
Did I check for punctuation errors?
Did I check for capitalization errors?
Did I properly credit other peoples' thoughts and writing?
Did I have somebody else proofread my work?
Charles E. Stewart, MD, FACEP, is EMS Magazine's medical editorial consultant."

Time to sell stock in your long distance carrier!

This will put long distance carriers out of business. It won't help the local carriers either.

Boston.com / Business / Technology / Software turns phone into walkie-talkie: "Software turns phone into walkie-talkie
By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press Writer, 9/18/2003"

How To Be A Successful Expert Witness

Landings: Hangar-Talk: The Phil Kolczynski Law Forum:

See the link for a great how-to article

Busy Month

It has been a busy month, strategic planning and the start of school. The first fills the workday and the second fills the off-hours.

My son, a new high school freshman, has an early bird class that starts at 7:00 AM, so he has to be there well before that time. Therefore, I am getting to work early myself. Since our daughter is in 5th grade, I can expect eight years of this.