Wednesday, April 12, 2017
Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Oldcastle is Oldfashioned
I am talking about companies that torture the job-seeker/hunter/browser with endless questionnaires and tests, and topping it off by forcing the applicant to regurgitate the entire contents of his painstakingly crafted resume.
Dear Mr. Corporation. If you make applying for a job a fool's errand, you will employ fools.
I opted against Oldcastle because they want me to perform long thankless arduous work for free just to apply for a job. Make it easy, and I might grant you twenty-five seconds of my time. If you're lucky. Otherwise, I really don't see the point in applying for a job with a company run by fools.
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Stockholm
Ugh, Syria
Let's say we did overthrow Assad. Would the next guy be better? I doubt it. There is always going to be problems over in that neck of the woods, and it is unlikely that those people are going to love us. The best we can hope for is they forget us, after we stay out of their hair for about a hundred years, if our leaders learn wisdom, which I hope they do.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Prime Minister Theresa May is O.K.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Low Expectations
Thursday, March 23, 2017
401(k)
No thank you, Mr. Bank, you charge 1% for the dubious privilege of your pedestrian expertise, consisting of what is the difference between a stock and a bond, and your mutual fund selection is full of funds with expense ratios through the roof, an astronomical 1 - 2%. I will stick with my IRA and the only good mutual fund family, VANGUARD, thank you not at all, except for the free lunch, which was basically junk food, by the way, just like your entire product offering. What, are you trying to give us a heart attack with the food?
Some doofus raised his hand asking what the expense ratios were. The saleslady replied they were what the bank pays the mutual funds, which was a bald-faced lie, because the customer pays the mutual funds out of his principal. Nothing but lies in this meeting. They were telling us 401(k) was the only tax shelter, ignoring IRAs altogether, because they don't make money from that. After the meeting, I considered calling up Johnny to let him know the real scoop. I know my way around investing. But then I remembered back when I first started at the company. One day, when I was green on the job, Johnny sneered at me because I carried a heavy toolbox to fix a little problem that required just a single cable. Well, hey, you know what, expense ratios are Johnny's toolbox. The expense ratio's on him. That's his heavy toolbox he's lugging around, looking like a fool. Me, I'm with Vanguard. Let him pay that 1-2% for the next ten years.
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Maybe I'm All Wrong
And I see no reason to add a "k" to the word "magic." Shakespeare didn't, so why should we?
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Trump Would Rather Be Bombing A-rabs
As for Trump's increase of defense spending, although that sounds good in principle--we all want to be safe--the ugly truth about defense spending is that a huge amount goes to waste, up in smoke due to pure negligence, corruption, schmoozing, parties, kickbacks, gifts, you name it. Generals retire to become salesmen for the very firms they used to purchase from. In any case, this is the real reason that Trump wants to increase defense spending--to enrich his cronies the easy way. They don't have to work hard or think at all. They just collect checks from the government. Welfare for the rich.
Sunday, March 5, 2017
I Didn't Approve of Stephen King
Saturday, March 4, 2017
To Be Old in America
One thing is sure. These United States cannot ally with Putin. Then we would be evil and so much worse for this poor old world.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Hypocrisy
Saturday, February 18, 2017
Goodness and Strength
Who can define a dragon? I know one when I see one.
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Amicability
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Unleash the Stereotypes
The problem with gays is alcohol. Drinking stops thinking.
The problem with blacks is crime. Solve crime, and the blacks will be better off.
The problem with whites is war. An obsession with war between nations has reduced the white race more than anything else.
The problem with the Middle East is religion. Atheism, which is shunned, offers an antidote for the muttering puppets of dark powers.
The problem with Chinese is corruption. Everything gets sacrificed for money: environment, aesthetics, freedom.
The problem with racists is group-think. Your group doesn't even like you that much, and wishes you were in another group.
The problem with homophobes is they are homosexual. Straight men really don't think about gays and appreciate not having to compete with gays for women.
The problem with Jews is fear. They are afraid of being the last Jew standing and of Judaism disappearing from the world.
The problem with atheists is boredom. They are missing out on a lot of fun that the believers are in on.
The problem with Christians is they owe everything to a Jew, and the Muslims believe similar things they do.
The problem with women is men. Men are horrible.
The problem with men is other men.
The problem with Republicans is they have to operate in the real world of today, not their fantasy world of 1950 television sit-com.
The problem with Democrats is business as usual. The party bosses think they can just arrange everything without taking into account the voters.
The problem with the Greens and other minority parties is they don't understand winner-takes-all and what it means.
The problem with people that don't vote is they want to complain, but not do anything about it.
The problem with North Korea is Kim Jong-Un.
The problem with Trump is Twitter can't solve every problem in the world.
The problem with religious people is gullibility.
The problem with people that believe in magic is gullibility.
Is that enough problems for you?
The problem with human beings is that they are human beings!
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Trump the Grump
The U.S. needs about ten years to recover from its addiction to crack
Probably Trump is going to wage war in Yemen, because that would please Saudi Arabia, an old Republican ally, and seems a safe bet and a way to get back at Iran.
I am parking money in a money market fund, because although inflation is cranking back up as I expected, Trump seems unfocused, unprepared and unprofessional, and he has hatched some major goofballs. Amateur hour all around with Trump in office. He is still campaigning. I don't think he ever stopped being a candidate. He does not know how to be President. I keep wondering when he is going to shut up and start thinking things through before he acts.
Monday, January 30, 2017
Astrology and All That
Maybe Qaballah is too ancient Hebrew for my tastes. I remember that I wrote a long time ago, before I knew what Qaballah was, that I was a spirit of fire, then changed to one of air. Well, per Ducky, per the Qaballah, my astrological sign corresponds to Mutable Fire, which is open to change to another element. Also, one my nyms from long ago coincided with one of the planets in my zodiac. Well, all of that could be coincidence or was it prescience?
I shall continue with his video series because I like watching Adorable Ducky, even if what he is talking about flies over my head. I rather wish Ducky had cast a fireball or two, or changed someone into a frog, or forecast the near future. Now, that is what I call real magic. That is what I want a proper wizard to show me. But he sat there, in his coat and tie, and just seemed a dear old professor, lively and vivacious and huggable.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
John McWhorter @ CNN
I feel the same way McWhorter does about Trump: "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day." Trump spouts so many words that a man is bound to agree with some. He is like a shotgun. Yeah, a couple pellets are going to hit the mark.
Trump talks too much, for one thing, and engages his mouth more than his brain. He is not the ideal leader. He is going to make a lot of horrible and costly blunders with that angry mouth and hot head of his. The best that I hope for is that he corrects at least some of the blunders of his predecessors, and that his blunders prove to be correctable by his successor.
Due to Trump, Putin, and Xi, I do not have any hope that humanity will do anything to reverse climate change. Anyone living on the coast anywhere in the world is in for a rude shock, and those in the interior are also in for neat experiments like desertification, violent storms, flooding and violent and hungry refugees from the coast. Trump can be wrong, but ninety-nine per cent of world scientists can't be wrong.
On the other hand, is it right that the U.S. and Europe make all the sacrifices in an effort to reverse global warming, while India, China and Russia pump out maximum carbon emissions? If climate change is really inevitable anyway, and it probably is, given the geopolitical reality, then the U.S. might as well do whatever is expedient, because Russia and China represent evil in our world, and must not be permitted any advantages. Putin and Xi are evil incarnate and will never do anything that is good. If the U.S. committed suicide en masse, resulting in the elimination of all man-made carbon emissions, then China and Russia would continue with business as usual, and colonize our space and replace the lost carbon emissions with their own. Therefore, global warming is truly inevitable. It is impossible that China and Russia should cooperate with the U.S. They prefer global catastrophe and large-scale reduction of the world population to cooperation. Perhaps a reduction in global population is the real solution to global warming. There is not as much need for people nowadays, with automation in so many facets of business. The world could get by quite well with a million, let alone the seven billion currently in existence. This is the sobering reality foreseen by the elite, such as Trump, Putin, and Xi. It is my grim prediction for the future. I do not see a future with populous countries, but a future of war and strife, nuclear exchanges, massive pollution (including radioactive), dictatorships, and overall a long-term reduction in the global population. A "Mad Max" future.
Zero Sympathy for Google, Microsoft
My view is, tough titty. They can hire a bright young fellow from Iowa, train him, and keep their workforce 100% American. There is nothing a foreigner can do that an American can't do ten times better. We have a country with 300 million people, a well-educated workforce with a high number of college students, and these tech companies say they can't find enough eggheads? Hogwash!
Personally, I hope that treacherous Microsoft and Google lose a couple billion for depriving Americans of jobs. If they don't employ Americans, they are better off going bankrupt. Executives need to learn that what comes around, goes around. They enjoy the safety and comfort of living in America, yet transfer most of the jobs overseas. Is it a big surprise that American workers are not sympathetic?
Friday, January 20, 2017
Nomi Marks
Through Wikipedia, I learned Nomi Marks is played by Jamie Clayton, a transgender woman. I like Clayton's work in Sense8. She appears interesting and genuine somehow. That is why my mind has incorporated the character in my dreams.
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techlorebyigor is my personal journal for ideas & opinions