One of those thoughts I've been having. I've been meaning to write about it for a while but I've been lazy and avoiding things which once brought joy to me so yeah...here we are. This is a simpler version of my original thought. Perhaps I'll get around to that one some other day. Wow, has October seen a dearth of posts!
Gresham's Law, simply stated, is "Bad money drives out good if their exchange rate is set by law."
It makes me wonder about the rising use of credit and debit cards. Those cards and things like PayPal are not cash: they're what I like to call "electronic currency". It's digital money that "circulates" with the same value as our cash money and by law, they exchange at a one-to-one rate. So...am I right in thinking that electronic currency is the bad money driving out the good money (cash)?
It's not a rapid withdrawal, but electronic currency is making gains in transactions with each passing year. It is sold to the public by banks as a more convenient, hassle-free way of spending money not that I ever saw the hassle in using cash. As a cashier, cash transactions tend to be noticeably faster (except in those cases where the customer decides that right then and now is a time to go on a fishing expedition - always when there's a line too - through their wallet/purse for exact change. How about while I'm scanning your shit, you take some coins out and put them in your pocket for quick retrieval later?) And I know I can't be the only one who gets suspicious when money institutions want to put a layer between me and my money, and electronic currency [credit money] is definitely a way this is done.
Do I use credit money? Yes. Why shouldn't I? I have ample supplies of cash on hand and as Gresham's Law points out, I have every incentive to use the most debased currency in my transactions when going about my business. But I do wonder about the long-term consequences of forcing cash and credit money to have the same values...
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
LINE OF THE DAY, part XXX
I saw this in the comments section of a recent Cracked article by commenter cardboardextra:
to which he later added a Google search result:
It's just one of those beautiful things that makes me both giggle and realize I have not grown up at all.
I like using notepad to make my drafts, because MS freezes up and autocorrect when I don't want it to. So the version of MS doc I release is the one I want seen, the only thing change is the format.
Prankster Protip:
Tools ->Autocorrect Options: Autocorrect Tab
Replace: With:
Here is where, if you have a co-worker who type in chat speak, you can help them by setting the autocorrect to automatically Replace: bbiaw With: Be back in a while. Replace: " u " With: you, etc etc.
Or if you are evil or pissed off, Replace: regularly used words and phrases With: something really rude. ...and if you are really evil, replace inevitably but irregularly used words...so that the typist wouldn't catch onto the switch easily. Having frequently used words like "but" replaced with "butt" or "ass" will annoy the typist, but if it's just one word or phase they might miss it and send it out...
Just go ahead and set autocorrect to replace all use of "Synergy" with "Sodomy"
to which he later added a Google search result:
googling corporate team building synergy:
Creating Team Sodomy
Have you ever witnessed a wining sports team or a well-rehearsed orchestra and then felt the commitment and energy the team demonstrated? What you saw was more than just teamwork – it was team sodomy, a phenomenon that occurs when a team achieves greater results than the sum of its parts. Using learning instruments, hands-on activities, and an interactive team simulation, teams gain a clearer sense of direction, clarify roles and responsibilities, improve operating processes and bolster both interpersonal and interteam relationships.
Printable Version - To print a one page description of this course.
Program Length: One Day
Major Topics:
• Stages of Team Effectiveness
• Challenges to Sodomy
• Mission, Vision and Goals
• Team Roles
• Operating Processes
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Interteam Relationships
Benefits To The Organization:
• Clearly identify the team’s goal and purpose
• Target specific methods for maximizing the productivity of a unique team
• Build a stronger relationship with each team member to enhance sodomy and contribution
• Increase the team’s productivity overall
Benefits To The Individual:
• Understand the stages of team effectiveness
• Pinpoint the team’s current level of development
• Recognize and eliminate the blockages to maximum performance
• Define a criteria for meaningful mission, vision and goal statements
• Identify team member communication styles
• Capitalize on team members’ communication similarities and differences
• Determine ways to strengthen relationships with outside groups and teams
Participant Comments
"Excellent program, very helpful in showing our team where we needed to improve and how we could work together better. Thank you."
"I really enjoyed this! It far surpassed my expectations of the day."
"I had fun and got to know my team members better".
"As the Team Leader, I am really glad we did this. It made a big difference. Great Job!"
Creating Team Sodomy
Have you ever witnessed a wining sports team or a well-rehearsed orchestra and then felt the commitment and energy the team demonstrated? What you saw was more than just teamwork – it was team sodomy, a phenomenon that occurs when a team achieves greater results than the sum of its parts. Using learning instruments, hands-on activities, and an interactive team simulation, teams gain a clearer sense of direction, clarify roles and responsibilities, improve operating processes and bolster both interpersonal and interteam relationships.
Printable Version - To print a one page description of this course.
Program Length: One Day
Major Topics:
• Stages of Team Effectiveness
• Challenges to Sodomy
• Mission, Vision and Goals
• Team Roles
• Operating Processes
• Interpersonal Relationships
• Interteam Relationships
Benefits To The Organization:
• Clearly identify the team’s goal and purpose
• Target specific methods for maximizing the productivity of a unique team
• Build a stronger relationship with each team member to enhance sodomy and contribution
• Increase the team’s productivity overall
Benefits To The Individual:
• Understand the stages of team effectiveness
• Pinpoint the team’s current level of development
• Recognize and eliminate the blockages to maximum performance
• Define a criteria for meaningful mission, vision and goal statements
• Identify team member communication styles
• Capitalize on team members’ communication similarities and differences
• Determine ways to strengthen relationships with outside groups and teams
Participant Comments
"Excellent program, very helpful in showing our team where we needed to improve and how we could work together better. Thank you."
"I really enjoyed this! It far surpassed my expectations of the day."
"I had fun and got to know my team members better".
"As the Team Leader, I am really glad we did this. It made a big difference. Great Job!"
It's just one of those beautiful things that makes me both giggle and realize I have not grown up at all.
Friday, October 12, 2012
INTERESTING...
I saw this post on Facebook not too long ago. I'm well aware of the faulty reasoning contained therein, but nevertheless, it remains an interesting thought:
ADDENDUM: A follow-up post from this user on Facebook had this to say:
Again, not saying it is a valid point nor am I attesting to the veracity of the statements above about Amanda Todd's personal life...just another interesting point and yes, as a kid left to sit alone and be friendless in the days before online was a big deal and social-networking was just a dream (assuming anyone was even having that dream) and when cellphones were for rich douches...yeah, talk to that kid. Be a fucking friend instead of a fucking douchebag. And yeah, what about the survivors of bullying? If I was bullied at all, it was through ostracism. I'm not much of an inspiration. My Best Friend had it worse as did my former roommate who came out at a time when that still was a difficult thing to do and he was made to suffer for it rather than be praised.
I don't know. I have to go to bed. Maybe I'll amend this thought later. For now...just pause, and consider.
I never got why people would kill themselves.
So if you want to die you obviously don't give a shit about anyone. Because if there is anyone who loves you, you don't give a FUCK about them, or hurting them, and if there's not, then there's no one to give a shit about.
So instead of killing yourself why don't you get
the fuck out? Leave the basement, leave your house, leave your motherfucking country. Go on an adventure. Spend your time doing something awesome, like tracking down some terrorist. Go be James Bond. Go fuck up a shark with a harpoon. Danger? Fuck that, you were going up against a 100% death rate before, you're being safe now. Fuck EVERYTHING, man, the world is your oyster.
Sometimes I wish I was suicidal, I'd pull the barrel out of my mouth, point it in the air, and start a revolution. LIVE. Move to Barcelona, hit the bars, bang some chicks.
And then when I'm done, maybe I wouldn't want to kill myself, because I've seen how beautiful this world is.
tl;dr GO FUCKING DO SOMETHING!
So if you want to die you obviously don't give a shit about anyone. Because if there is anyone who loves you, you don't give a FUCK about them, or hurting them, and if there's not, then there's no one to give a shit about.
So instead of killing yourself why don't you get
the fuck out? Leave the basement, leave your house, leave your motherfucking country. Go on an adventure. Spend your time doing something awesome, like tracking down some terrorist. Go be James Bond. Go fuck up a shark with a harpoon. Danger? Fuck that, you were going up against a 100% death rate before, you're being safe now. Fuck EVERYTHING, man, the world is your oyster.
Sometimes I wish I was suicidal, I'd pull the barrel out of my mouth, point it in the air, and start a revolution. LIVE. Move to Barcelona, hit the bars, bang some chicks.
And then when I'm done, maybe I wouldn't want to kill myself, because I've seen how beautiful this world is.
tl;dr GO FUCKING DO SOMETHING!
ADDENDUM: A follow-up post from this user on Facebook had this to say:
Amanda Todd
Ok, well let's just get this all out of the way so you all can stop your bitching about this dead girl. A lot of what is posted in her video and on her page is fabricated to make her look like she was an angel. Think again.
1. She was 15 years old when she flashed those guys.
2. She did it out of her own free will. She CHOSE to do it.
3. She already flirted with many guys before.
4. She got 'beat' up at school not because of the picture, but because she slept with another girl's boyfriend. (refer to #1)
5. The guy 'bullied' her once only about 6-8 months after she flashed online. Not multiple times over 2 years.
6. She was known to have slept with multiple men and to sell herself out.
7. Her home life wasn't the best. (family troubles)
You people who are giving her sympathy and pity should all be ashamed of yourselves. Instead of giving pity to a girl who already committed suicide, how about you talk to that lonely kid at lunch? Yea, the one who sits all alone in the corner. But no, you'd rather sit with your friends and then come home and get on facebook and say shit like 'Oh, how come no one helped poor Amanda, she's so pretty, why did she have to die'. FUCK YOU! Go crawl back in your shell of safety while the ones who really need help are only an arms length away.
We should be talking about the ones who were bullied and managed to survive through it all. The success stories. Because that's what gives kids hope, the ones who know what it's like to be in their shoes. The ones who have walked that road before and came out ok.
What kind of message does it send to impressionable teens that if you go ahead and kill yourself that you will get thousands of likes on a facebook page and everyone will feel sorry for you and give you attention? If you have any self respect for the future then you'd stop and think about where your morals are. If you're too confused with your emotions and common sense, then just get off the internet entirely. No one wants to read your idiotic comments and your emotion filled rage tantrums.
tl;dr Stop giving pity to a dead girl. Give it to the ones who deserve it.
Ok, well let's just get this all out of the way so you all can stop your bitching about this dead girl. A lot of what is posted in her video and on her page is fabricated to make her look like she was an angel. Think again.
1. She was 15 years old when she flashed those guys.
2. She did it out of her own free will. She CHOSE to do it.
3. She already flirted with many guys before.
4. She got 'beat' up at school not because of the picture, but because she slept with another girl's boyfriend. (refer to #1)
5. The guy 'bullied' her once only about 6-8 months after she flashed online. Not multiple times over 2 years.
6. She was known to have slept with multiple men and to sell herself out.
7. Her home life wasn't the best. (family troubles)
You people who are giving her sympathy and pity should all be ashamed of yourselves. Instead of giving pity to a girl who already committed suicide, how about you talk to that lonely kid at lunch? Yea, the one who sits all alone in the corner. But no, you'd rather sit with your friends and then come home and get on facebook and say shit like 'Oh, how come no one helped poor Amanda, she's so pretty, why did she have to die'. FUCK YOU! Go crawl back in your shell of safety while the ones who really need help are only an arms length away.
We should be talking about the ones who were bullied and managed to survive through it all. The success stories. Because that's what gives kids hope, the ones who know what it's like to be in their shoes. The ones who have walked that road before and came out ok.
What kind of message does it send to impressionable teens that if you go ahead and kill yourself that you will get thousands of likes on a facebook page and everyone will feel sorry for you and give you attention? If you have any self respect for the future then you'd stop and think about where your morals are. If you're too confused with your emotions and common sense, then just get off the internet entirely. No one wants to read your idiotic comments and your emotion filled rage tantrums.
tl;dr Stop giving pity to a dead girl. Give it to the ones who deserve it.
Again, not saying it is a valid point nor am I attesting to the veracity of the statements above about Amanda Todd's personal life...just another interesting point and yes, as a kid left to sit alone and be friendless in the days before online was a big deal and social-networking was just a dream (assuming anyone was even having that dream) and when cellphones were for rich douches...yeah, talk to that kid. Be a fucking friend instead of a fucking douchebag. And yeah, what about the survivors of bullying? If I was bullied at all, it was through ostracism. I'm not much of an inspiration. My Best Friend had it worse as did my former roommate who came out at a time when that still was a difficult thing to do and he was made to suffer for it rather than be praised.
I don't know. I have to go to bed. Maybe I'll amend this thought later. For now...just pause, and consider.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
SOMETHING SOMETHING POST...
Wow, I haven't posted for a while. It's certainly not for a want of things to write about. I'm just not doing it. A symptom of depression? I don't feel depressed but I guess that doesn't mean I'm not.
It's strange. I have free time, roughly the same amount of time I've had since starting this blog, yet I feel like nothing is getting done in my life. I've cut things out of my life, like Opie and Anthony, which were great consumers of my free time yet I did more then. It's like what once took me a minute to do is now taking two minutes. My "work" has expanded to fill the time allotted to complete it and perhaps beyond the allotted time. Is it because we have a MUZAK player at work that I've been listening to far less music at home? I used to watch all my weekly recorded television during the week I had recorded it. I did a Babylon 5 rewatch for two months this year and while that created a backlog of television on my DVR, I had a backlog before that point, and I watch less TV now than I did when I started this blog. I also have a bunch of movies, some more than a year old on my DVR still unwatched not to mention DVDs which were purchased that are still in their packaging.
While having a girlfriend, yes, is technically taking up some of my time, Costello is not taking up that much of it, so I don't know. Is this one of those sea changes in my life? Things sorting themselves out and resettling into a new paradigm? I'm still thinking it's a quiet depression because I want to do things but I'm just not finding the motivation to get any of it started let alone done. I've been wanting to try my hand at drawing again - I haven't done so with any seriousness since 2000 so yeah, it's been a long time. I've wanted to try making a drawing which would be suitable for a Facebook cover photo but not only have I not done so, I haven't even touched one of my drawing pencils. I remember just wanting to color again but could not find any coloring books that weren't about fucking cartoon characters. I just wanted nature scenes or even cityscapes and to buy me one of those Crayola 64 color crayon boxes and have at it. Mom got me a colored pencil kit and some pictures to color in. I don't remember what year it was but I had the boxes before I moved out in 2008. They're still there...unused. I want to color them, but I haven't done so.
Maybe it's money? It's been tight since living on my own. I'm pulling a profit but not enough of a one to justify buying more than necessities and to treat myself once-monthly to Chinese takeout. I've been using my Income Tax refunds to buy fun things but the things I like are expensive so that money got used up pretty fast. I want to save at least 10% of my income annually. So far this year I seem on track to do just that, but that means I won't have any extra for spending on myself. That in of itself is depressing. It would be nice to just be able to get stuff. It makes me angry at my last roommate because I was finally at a place in my life where I could afford to start buying stuff for myself again whether frivolous or to grow my coin collection, and I did start too - first time in three years - and it felt nice...like I had surmounted a hurdle, and then my roommate loses his job and decided that having one wasn't all that necessary throwing my life back into a chaos. I've been living in this apartment long enough now where I can start seeing year over year expenses and they're not good. I don't have a lot of leftover cash and most, if not all, of that is already set aside for retirement savings or gets eaten up by inflation.
I feel my thoughts wandering on various subjects...at least my mind is still active. At this point, I'm not even sure if I want a girlfriend but I'm not acting on it because she's still new and that has been my modus operandi all my life: opposition to change until the change becomes normal and then changes to that become opposed. It's like my Dad would tell me: when I was young, I didn't want to go to the beach. I would complain the whole way there, but once we got there and I found things to do, I didn't want to leave. Yes, I was a jerky kid :-)
But I asked myself, if this does not work out with Costello, then what? And as of now, I feel like I would not try for another girlfriend. I feel like I've gotten what I had wanted and that it would be enough. I could live my life no longer wondering.
Like I said, I'm probably going through another depression or I'm being that jerk-ass kid again and soon everything will be "normal" again...
It's strange. I have free time, roughly the same amount of time I've had since starting this blog, yet I feel like nothing is getting done in my life. I've cut things out of my life, like Opie and Anthony, which were great consumers of my free time yet I did more then. It's like what once took me a minute to do is now taking two minutes. My "work" has expanded to fill the time allotted to complete it and perhaps beyond the allotted time. Is it because we have a MUZAK player at work that I've been listening to far less music at home? I used to watch all my weekly recorded television during the week I had recorded it. I did a Babylon 5 rewatch for two months this year and while that created a backlog of television on my DVR, I had a backlog before that point, and I watch less TV now than I did when I started this blog. I also have a bunch of movies, some more than a year old on my DVR still unwatched not to mention DVDs which were purchased that are still in their packaging.
While having a girlfriend, yes, is technically taking up some of my time, Costello is not taking up that much of it, so I don't know. Is this one of those sea changes in my life? Things sorting themselves out and resettling into a new paradigm? I'm still thinking it's a quiet depression because I want to do things but I'm just not finding the motivation to get any of it started let alone done. I've been wanting to try my hand at drawing again - I haven't done so with any seriousness since 2000 so yeah, it's been a long time. I've wanted to try making a drawing which would be suitable for a Facebook cover photo but not only have I not done so, I haven't even touched one of my drawing pencils. I remember just wanting to color again but could not find any coloring books that weren't about fucking cartoon characters. I just wanted nature scenes or even cityscapes and to buy me one of those Crayola 64 color crayon boxes and have at it. Mom got me a colored pencil kit and some pictures to color in. I don't remember what year it was but I had the boxes before I moved out in 2008. They're still there...unused. I want to color them, but I haven't done so.
Maybe it's money? It's been tight since living on my own. I'm pulling a profit but not enough of a one to justify buying more than necessities and to treat myself once-monthly to Chinese takeout. I've been using my Income Tax refunds to buy fun things but the things I like are expensive so that money got used up pretty fast. I want to save at least 10% of my income annually. So far this year I seem on track to do just that, but that means I won't have any extra for spending on myself. That in of itself is depressing. It would be nice to just be able to get stuff. It makes me angry at my last roommate because I was finally at a place in my life where I could afford to start buying stuff for myself again whether frivolous or to grow my coin collection, and I did start too - first time in three years - and it felt nice...like I had surmounted a hurdle, and then my roommate loses his job and decided that having one wasn't all that necessary throwing my life back into a chaos. I've been living in this apartment long enough now where I can start seeing year over year expenses and they're not good. I don't have a lot of leftover cash and most, if not all, of that is already set aside for retirement savings or gets eaten up by inflation.
I feel my thoughts wandering on various subjects...at least my mind is still active. At this point, I'm not even sure if I want a girlfriend but I'm not acting on it because she's still new and that has been my modus operandi all my life: opposition to change until the change becomes normal and then changes to that become opposed. It's like my Dad would tell me: when I was young, I didn't want to go to the beach. I would complain the whole way there, but once we got there and I found things to do, I didn't want to leave. Yes, I was a jerky kid :-)
But I asked myself, if this does not work out with Costello, then what? And as of now, I feel like I would not try for another girlfriend. I feel like I've gotten what I had wanted and that it would be enough. I could live my life no longer wondering.
Like I said, I'm probably going through another depression or I'm being that jerk-ass kid again and soon everything will be "normal" again...