Bearden Middle School (BMS) evacuated students to the other side of VanosdaleFrancis due to a bomb threat.
This information is unconfirmed.
Category: Of Interest
Those miscellaneous things that just must be published.
Hump Day
It’s Wednesday again.
No more cashiers at fast food restaurants!
I’ve been saying we should be doing this for years!
As for the people that will cry out, "what will those people do for a living?!" Capitalism is not wellfare so it is not McDonald Corp’s (or in this case, Taco Bell’s) responsibility to see those people employeed. The U.S. Department of Labor – Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that automation will cause job declines through 2014.
productivity gains, job automation, and international competition will adversely affect employment in many other manufacturing industries. Employment in textile mills and apparel manufacturing will decline by 119,000 and 170,000 jobs, respectively. Employment in computer and electronic product manufacturing also will decline by 94,000 jobs through 2014.
Automation will cause job declines.
Desktop publishers will be among the fastest growing occupations in this group, increasing by 23.2 percent over the decade. However, due to rising productivity and increased automation, office and administrative support occupations also account for 11 of the 20 occupations with the largest employment declines.
…
The majority of the 20 occupations with the largest numerical decreases are office and administrative support and production occupations, which are affected by increasing plant and factory automation and the implementation of office technology that reduces the needs for these workers.
…
Office automation will significantly affect many individual office and administrative support occupations. Overall, these occupations are projected to grow more slowly than average, while some are projected to decline. Office and administrative support occupations are projected to create 7.5 million job openings over the 2004-14 period, ranking third behind service and professional and related occupations.
The report also has positive numbers complete with an indication that food service will grow.
Accommodation and food services is expected to grow by 16.5 percent and add 1.8 million new jobs through 2014. Job growth will be concentrated in food services and drinking places, reflecting increases in population, dual-income families, and dining sophistication.
…
Jobs will be created for many production occupations, including food processing workers…
I wonder if such automation as shown in the Taco Bell picture was considered in this report.
Benefits of a job?
In today’s economics, businesses continue to cut job perks:
SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. – The sheriff said Friday he will no longer allow detectives to receive sexual services while investigating suspected prostitution after they spent $1,200 at massage parlors last month.
…county detectives allowed women at Moon Spa to perform sex acts on them — once leaving a $350 tip
I can see the candidates at their interview. "See, we don’t pay great, but…"
The Other Lost – discussed
Thanks to Newscoma, there is some chatter about Henry Gale’s anagram at The Fuselage.
There is also some discussion at The Tail Section.
More Lost goodies at Mr. Find’s Uncovering ABC TV’s Lost including images implying that the monster was on the plane.
The Numbers!
Now that’s a domain name!
The Other Lost
The Reign of Ellen has great LOST reviews. Today she posted one word and received 17 comments! Comment #16 MUST be read! The anonymous poster did an incredible job. I’ll quote an exerpt which has SPOILERS from last night’s show:
[First she points out the name and city of the captive is an anagram (just like Ethan’s was):] HENRY GALE MINNESOTA = SEE AN OTHER MAN LYING
[then there is the connection to the balloon:] He’s so full of hot air.
[regarding the description of the balloon:] He was describing the dimensions of Steve Fossett’s balloon, Spirit of Freedom, which Fossett used to make his round-the-world solo flight, starting and ending in Australia.
Spirit of Freedom was sponsored by Bud Light. Budweiser’s mascot is
… a frog.[Henry’s dead wife went to the U. of Minnesota:] The U. of Minnesota is in Minneapolis, a TWIN city. The school’s teams are called the Golden Gophers. Henry is a go-fer for The Others.
Let me throw in a couple of other tidbits. Henry Gale was Dorothy’s Uncle in The Wizard of Oz. The Wizard escaped in a hot air ballon. Oz is the nickname for Australia.
Lost in Weirdness
For today’s LOST commentary, I bow to Weird Al (slooooow load but well worth it! Did I meantion that this is a slow load?). The man should be knighted!
On a side note, a gross number of people seem to be misunderstanding the noise as the countdown clock hit zero. Michael, the island’s resident engineer and awol mad father, was inspecting some large, thick steel things in the ceiling that appeared to be “blast doors” so the noises would be the safety latches releasing in preparation to drop the blast doors and lock everyone inside.
My wife, in her wisdom, has pointed out that at least 4 of the islanders were involved in (or related to) a car wreck. Jack’s wife, Shannon’s dad, Locke, Michael and potentially Kate. Was this all the same accident?
As for the frog incident, I believe Sawyer was simply letting Hugo know, despite Hurley’s attempt to walk away, Sawyer was still in control.
Woot Woot Woot!
For you woot fans that are often dejected that the good stuff sold out at 1:32am, Woot is having a Woot Off!
In Woot-Off mode, a new product is launched immediately after the sellout of the previous deal. There is a half-Woot-life of 12 hours maximum on any product within a Woot-Off that does not sell out. The number of Woot-Off items, sequence, and quantity will not be announced.
Saving the Internet
Alright! Let’s hear it for Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.)! A politician that understands with the telcos are doing. Earlier I posted "Large Telcos Want To Kill The Internet". Rep. Rick Boucher explains:
Essentially, what these executives are proposing is the creation of a two-lane Internet where larger, more established websites with financial resources could squeeze out smaller, emerging websites. …
Internet2, a nonprofit partnership of universities, companies and affiliate organizations, including federal agencies and laboratories, has been studying this matter and has demonstrated that a multitrack Internet model is unnecessary to assure quality of service. Internet2 has for the past seven years deployed an advanced broadband network to more than 5 million users and has learned that in a network with enough bandwidth there is no congestion and no bits need preferential treatment because all of them arrive quickly enough to assure excellent quality, even if intermingled.
I find it somewhat sad that our speed over the last mile, that is from the switch to the house, is so slow.
In countries such as Japan and Korea, network speeds over the last mile of 100 megabits per second (mbps) are common. In the United States, our typical speed is less than 1 mbps.
Special thanks to Tom Maszerowski of My Likes and Dislikes for pointing out Rep. Rick Boucher!
Who are you? Fabled.
I like the traveler but I fear I see more and more rancher’s everyday.
Where do you get your news?
Curious Murder
Why? I’ll reprint in full:
Two men have been charged with the first-degree murder of CURIOUS GEORGE co-author ALAN J SHALLECK in Florida.
The 76-year-old writer was found stabbed to death under a pile of garbage bags outside his home in Boynton Beach on Tuesday (07FEB06).
Police found a trail of blood leading from Shalleck’s body to his trailer home and found blood splattered all over the master bedroom, as well several knives and broken glass.
REX SPEARS DITTO, 29, and VINCENT PUGLISI, 54, were arrested on Wednesday (08FEB06) and have confessed to home invasion, murder and robbery, according to police.
Shalleck co-wrote the popular Curious George books with MARGARET REY since the 1970s, after the death of original creator HA REY in 1977.
The big screen version of Curious George, which features the voices of DREW BARRYMORE and WILL FERRELL, hit US cinemas today (10FEB06).
Aging With Music
Ok. That does it. I’m old now! Someone has remade TMBG‘s Don’t Let’s Start into Musack for hold music! And they’ve slowed it down and added a country twang… ugh. “NO! Don’t don’t let’s start! This is the worst part….”
Blog of the week
This celebrity blog is undeniably unique. One photo does have the f word and one that rhymes with sit but otherwise a quick glances gives the impression that its a fairly safe site. If the depth of content remains at its current quality, I may have to put this on the blog roll and make it a regular read.
