"Murphy was an optimist!"
So you want to work for youself February 4, 2010 11:17 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Touchy Subjects , 1 comment so farThe grass is always greener on the other side. If you dream of escaping Cubeville to work as a freelancer or consultant taking business calls from the beach, setting your own schedule, working in pajamas or nothing at all, and taking vacations whenever you want, I am here to warn you about the brown spots in that greener grass. The biggest brown spot will be cash flow. That 8 to 5 job which you view as a prison to escape provides something unknown to the self-employed…predictable income. For instance, I expected a full payment from one client last night; instead, I received a half payment today. That should be no big deal since another client was scheduled to deliver a full payment today but instead delivered a message that the payment should come tomorrow. These scenarios are why people recommend keeping 6 months of income in the bank. If you don’t have that, the greener grass is too dangerous. Stay in Cubeville! If you are venturing over here from Cubeville with that 6 month income in the bank, your exit plan from self-employment back to Cubeville better be well before that reserve hits zero. Exit plan? Don’t have one? Well, that’s for a different post, but if you don’t have an exit plan, you aren’t ready for self-employment.
1 comment so farBBC explains why people vote against their own interests January 30, 2010 9:40 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States , 1 comment so farThe BBC has delivered some excellent commentary on what we are living in American politics. These quotes hit the nail on the head:
[Thomas Frank] believes that the voters’ preference for emotional engagement over reasonable argument has allowed the Republican Party to blind them to their own real interests.
Right-wing politics has become a vehicle for channelling this popular anger against intellectual snobs. The result is that many of America’s poorest citizens have a deep emotional attachment to a party that serves the interests of its richest.
[Source, BBC, Why do people often vote against their own interests?]
…whatever disadvantaged Americans think they are voting for, they get something quite different:
"You vote to strike a blow against elitism and you receive a social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our life times, workers have been stripped of power, and CEOs are rewarded in a manner that is beyond imagining." [Source, BBC, Why do people often vote against their own interests?]
And here’s my favorite. One for the history books:
1 comment so far"It’s like a French Revolution in reverse in which the workers come pouring down the street screaming more power to the aristocracy." [Source, BBC, Why do people often vote against their own interests?]
Teens in ABC Documentary: Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss January 23, 2010 2:20 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Sex, Touchy Subjects , 8commentsOne, there are some things a father does not want to hear:
Oral Sex is the New Goodnight Kiss [Source, Mashtrends, Teens in ABC Documentary: Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss]
Two, holy cow, I was born 25 years too early! In all seriousness, I hope this report is media hype and construed data:
After four years researching for the documentary, Azam told "Good Morning America" that oral sex is as common as kissing for teens and that casual prostitution — being paid at parties to strip, give sexual favors or have sex — is far more commonplace than once believed. [Source, Mashtrends, Teens in ABC Documentary: Oral Sex Is the New Goodnight Kiss]
Talk to your teens! The schools are certainly not giving adequate sex education.
8commentsToday’s Social Media Revelation December 10, 2009 12:04 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Communications, Privacy, Technology, Touchy Subjects , add a commentLast night LinkedIn became Facebook and Facebook tried again to become Twitter: Facebook’s New Privacy Changes: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
add a commentAir America Cruise Round 1 ends December 4, 2009 12:27 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Contest, Of Interest, Politics, Touchy Subjects , 2commentsIf today’s live poll on Air America blog is any indication about the results of the first round of the cruise contest, Digsby jumped from position 20 into the top 5. Joe Jervis moved from position 11 into the top 5. And no one was successful in knocking Mike Lux, Karl Frisch, or Pam Spaulding out of the top 5. I hope I’m misinterpreting this and that Aunt B of Tiny Cat Pants actually made it into the top 5.
Update: Yes, here is the round two page.
2commentsMy Clients Now Get P3P Privacy Policies November 17, 2009 11:15 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Privacy, Programming, Security, Technology, Touchy Subjects , add a commentDoes your website collect identifying information on your visitors? If you think because you do not sell anything, ie. no shopping cart, and have no subscription services that you are not collecting identifying information on your site’s visitors then you are probably wrong. Most web servers log IP addresses along with the time of the visit and what that IP address read. ISPs keep logs showing which IP addresses were allocated to what users at particular times. Your logs can be correlated to their logs to identify a person. If your site as a comment form then you are definitely collecting information but more importantly that form gives you a name of a person to associate with the IP address without having to involve the ISP.
So now that we are clear that you are probably collecting identifying information about the visitors to your site, do you have a privacy policy? A privacy policy states how you will use that identifying information. For instance, perhaps you sell it to mailing lists. Or perhaps you specifically do NOT sell it to mailing lists but aggregate it to be able to explain to your potential advertisers that 70% of your site’s visitors are women between the ages of 22 and 35.
If you have a privacy policy, as a human, I can follow the link to that policy, read it, and try to interpret it. But why should I do that when I may not even understand what I’m reading? Shouldn’t the browser or other software handle the privacy policy for me? Yes! And on April 16, 2002 the W3C recommended the Platform for Privacy Preferences Project or P3P which is "a machine-readable language that helps to express a website’s data management practices." What this comes down to is that you can set your privacy preferences in your browser and if the website’s policy does not match, the browser blocks cookies from that site. Certainly there is a bit more to it than that but for most users, it boils down to blocking cookies.
P3P is a bit of a pain in the neck but every website (and that means your blogs) should have a privacy policy. This is definitely something I will encourage of each of my clients.
add a commentThe Rape Belt October 18, 2009 11:10 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States , add a commentI live in a state that supports rape in the workplace. See the info graphic at Republicans for Rape.
add a commentBalloon Boy admits publicity stunt October 16, 2009 9:02 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Touchy Subjects , add a commentAt exactly 0:40 seconds into this clip, Balloon Boy says, "We did it for the show." Why didn’t Wolf Blitzer call them out and directly ask, "The boy just said you did it for the show. Was this a publicity stunt?" Honestly, is this an interview/reporting or a paid marketing piece?
On the today show the dad explains away the boy’s comment at minute 5:54. At 6:00 the boy throws up! See the Today Show video here or watch it below.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Update: Richard Thomas explains that he helped plan the balloon hoax.
Update: Criminal charges expected.
Don’t know where you stand on health care reform? October 1, 2009 12:12 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Humor, Touchy Subjects , 1 comment so farHere’s your decision tree from indecisionforever.com.
1 comment so farWhat killed the public option? September 30, 2009 10:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Health, Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States , 6comments$19 million and 5 purchased votes shot down the best change that could have ever come to this country.
Max Baucus got $7,734,102, Blanche Lincoln received $4,190,592, Ken Conrad took in $3,287,891, Bill Nelson was given $2,414,895 and Tom Carper accepted $1,592,380 from health industry interests. [Source, Intershame.com, Bought by the Insurance Lobby]
These Senators clearly voted against the wishes of their constituents who 81% favor the public option. Is this another example of the Government of the Corporation? In CEO We Trust.
6commentsGeorge Carlin and Bill Hicks explain our economic and political systems September 28, 2009 7:43 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Humor, Politics, Touchy Subjects , add a comment add a commentWe need a single payer option September 27, 2009 9:01 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Health, Politics, Touchy Subjects , 7commentsHealth care reform is essential in this country. People are dying so that other people can put dollars in their wallets. That is wrong.
7commentsKimberly Young, vibrant 22-year-old who was working at least two jobs in Oxford after graduating with a double major in December 2008, became ill about two weeks ago, but didn’t seek care initially because she didn’t have health insurance and was worried about the cost. "That’s the most tragic part about it. If she had insurance, she would have gone to the doctor," Brent Mowery, her friend and former roommate, said. [Source, Crooks and Liars, R.I.P. Kimi Young, 22, Another Casualty of Our For-Profit Deathcare System.]
Trouble is spelled with a capital T September 21, 2009 10:48 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Philanthropy, Touchy Subjects , add a commentJust in case you’ve ever been reading here and thought to yourself, "my coffers are overflowing! I should help Reality Me out on hosting expenses, meals, band fees, text books, and such." I’ve revived the old donation button in the sidebar. Just saying..this would be a good time and much appreciated!
add a comment9/11 September 11, 2009 7:38 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Touchy Subjects , add a comment
What happens when you yell “liar” at the President? September 10, 2009 7:58 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Politics, Regional Politics (SE), Touchy Subjects, United States , 19commentsQuestion:If you, Republican Joe Wilson, show a utter lack of respect for the office of the presidency, a breech of protocol, a total lack of decorum, and a complete disregard for the level of professionalism expect by your elected position, what happens?
Answer: In less than 12 hours, 1362 people raise $45,475 to help elect Democrat Rob Miller as your replacement in the House of Representatives.
Update: 20 hours later, 4531 people have donated $155,362.
Update: 24 hours later, 5832 people have dontaed $203,070. Along with other Rob Miller campaigns on ActBlue, volunteers have donated a total of $592,075 to see Democrat Rob Miller displace Republican Joe Wilson in South Carolina’s 2nd district US House Representative.
See also: Joe Wilson is your pre-existing condition and career finance.
Update: Wilson health care industry darling and this is not the first time he has gone off at the mouth. See also and 2002 Joe Wilson lies about Saddam.
Update: Rich points to a youtube video of Democrats applauding during a state of the union address about blocking a bill as an example of Wilson like behavior. I understand their message in applauding goes against the President’s desires but it matches the excepted decorum on the Senate and no one outright demeaned the President.
The House is considering responding to Wilson’s actions.
"It is a clear violation of the rules of the House, and it needs to be resolved on the floor of the House either by an apology or by a resolution," said Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
House rules and precedents provide substantial guidance on how a House member can and cannot refer to the president while speaking on the floor, and the guidelines state that it has been found impermissible to call the president a liar. The House was in formal session at the time of the speech.
[Source, New York Times, Heckler’s Behavior May Bring Action in House]
The White House has stiffened its stand against providing health care to illegal aliens. Whether this is what Obama said he was going to do or a response to Wilson won’t ever be known but is irrelevant as the end result is the same.
Here’s a tricky one. Joe Wilson Voted to Provide Taxpayer Money for Illegal Immigrants’ Healthcare. This is the crap that happens in our Congress.
However, in 2003, Wilson voted to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants’ healthcare. The vote came on the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011 authorizing $250,000 annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals who provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants. The program has been extended through 2009 and there is currently a bipartisan bill in Congress to make it permanent. [Source, OpenCongress, Joe Wilson Voted to Provide Taxpayer Money for Illegal Immigrants' Healthcare]
The misleading part of this is that the bill was "a much larger bill that contained many Republican priorities." Our bills should not be large bills with unrelated or concession type riders that force our lawmakers to let things slip through. I do not think this serves the people as much as it opens doors to serve the politicians and lobbyists with back scratching. "I’ve vote YES to your bill if you add this minor section."
Craig Ferguson’s response to Wilson.
19comments
