Reality Me

Blog

  • Help Stop Interstate 3!

    Interstate 3 is a horrible conception and unless the public steps up to the plate and contacts their representatives billions of dollars will be wasted and the ecology of the Southeast forever changed! I was composing a lengthy opposition to I-3 when Blogger deleted my account so my research was lost. Fortunately, the Stop I-3 Coalition has stepped up to the plate to bring public awareness to this disaster that has been forming since 2004. Contacting your representative is EASY! Explaining to your grandchildren why the Great Smoky Mountain National Park died and why the Southeast no longer has a wilderness is HARD.

    Billions of dollars are being allocated to build a road that reduces current routes by only 15 miles. This money should be spent to build electric rails along existing interstate corridors instead of irrevocability changing the landscape and environment of the Southeast. Modern trains can be equiped to transport cars like ferries so arguments that a rail system would be useless are invalid.

    It is my personal believe that this is a military inspired route to expedite transportation of weapons from Oak Ridge to the coast (an unfounded and unproveable statement — but it is a straight line!).

    Please click MORE to read the full email from Stop I-3. Please, if you contact your representative about nothing else, just contact them about this. Put a stop to Interstate 3!

    (more…)

  • You can sell anything on eBay!

    Hang out with us for the day (the picture sells it!) Yes, worksafe.

  • 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.

  • From the mouths of babes

    Amy, 3 years: "Dad, I think my tongue is still broken because I bite it last night."

  • Improvised Edible Plate

    Here’s my parent hack for today. My 9 month old takes great pleasure in tossing or dumping a plate or bowl placed in front of him. So in his high chair, he eats right off the tray. Today I treated him to scrambled eggs (which he always devours) but today my eggs were sticking to the tray and frustrating the little fingers. I started to give in and place his plate in front of him anticipating the dogs would finish off the eggs. Instead I layered Cheerios on his tray and put the eggs on top of the Cheerios. He was able to easily grab the eggs and had a nice side dish with them.

  • Yum!

    Let’s hear it for ketchup on eggs!

  • Of Grasshoppers

    Student: I can’t make my wife happy.
    Master: Take it elsewhere bud! I deal in philosophy and morals, not mysticism.

  • Lights Still On

    It’s 5° C outside. I know this because the little number in the task bar tells me so. And since I can read the number in the task bar the computer is on which implies we still have electricity. And since we have electricity, we have heat. Granted, meals may be thin this month but that is one of the trade-offs of working from home and getting to be ultra involved in my children’s lives. Hopefully they won’t curse me too badly for being called "poor white trash" instead of "snotty, rich brats with a dad they never see" not to imply that working hard either produces snotty brats nor riches nor absentee dads (those are all choices). Of course, when I’m dead, they will stomp my grave and grouse over the lack of fortune left behind but at least their relationships won’t be torn apart in estate court.

    I learned today that I’m not alone in my struggles against the heartless utility companies on which we so rely. And there I left this comment:

    I find it funny in not a so haha way that the people that are inspiring the proverbial “you” to come up with money that “you” may not have take away the very thing (at least in my case) that “you” use to make the money. With ALL of my income generated from the Internet, to cut off cable or electricity is cutting off my life blood, my oxygen. Cutting off my cell phone is like depriving me of water (not as fast a death but it will come).

    My dialog with the electric company today was something made for the comics. “You do know that this is a banking holiday?” “Yes sir. You still need to have your payment to us by 5pm.” “But I can’t do banking to get you the money.” “Then you’ll have to pay us cash sir.” “Can’t you give me one more day? You have picked a banking holiday and one of the coldest days of the year to cut off our power.” “Sorry sir. Your bill was due ___. It’s your responsibiliity..” “Don’t talk to me about responsibility. You know nothing of my situation so do not preach to me. Now let’s assume the money is in a money market account. I can’t get to that until tomorrow.” “Sir, the trucks don’t run at night. They’ll start running at 8am tomorrow. If you can get us payment first thing and call, we might be able to stop the cutoff.” “You do know my phone run off your electricity?” Thank goodness this month’s issue of MAKE tells us how to make our own power with the wind!

  • Cold, darkness comes

    Question: If you are working a regular 8-5 job, when KUB puts a pink note on your door at 1pm to say they will cut off power at 5pm, how do you deal with this when you get home at 6:30pm?
    Answer: People with regular jobs don’t have the cash flow issues that causes such problems. Anyone hiring programmers? Looks like I’m on the clearance rack. I’ve got about 4 more hours of working for myself.

    Funny. I just tried called KUB to get "I’m sorry. All circuits are busy now. Please try your call again later."

    Insult to injury: The banks are closed today. I can’t even move money around!

  • Good programmer!

    I love it when I think "I need a document to _____." and then I find out that I’ve already written it. Documentation is such a good thing! Programmers that think they will "get around to documenting after the project" or that "no one ever uses documentation" must suffer a lot on maintenance projects or when additional work comes around. I bet they say "it would be cheaper and easier for me to just start over" a whole bunch.

  • Happy President’s Day!

    Bah. I was going to upload a patriotic image and after getting it all prep’d I realized that whatever $5/hour artist made it put the flag up backwards.

    For all you government workers, enjoy your day off.

  • 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…"

  • Drink it up Evan!

    I gave Evan 30mL of water mixed with 30mL of apple juice and this morning he figured out that if he tilts the bottle he gets the drink. Until today he has just chewed the nipple unless I was holding it for him. Go Evan!

  • 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.