I generally regard Amtrak as a failure. They exist mostly because of a couple of routes which people seem to be preoccupied with (New York to Boston, New York to DC, Chicago to Seattle, etc). Beyond that.....Amtrak could dissolve today and seventy-five percent of America wouldn't care. I would even take the humble guess that seventy-five percent of America will confess they've never ridden Amtrak. Three percent of the nation might (my own guess) say that they've used Amtrak more than ten times in their life.
This week, we had another report which kinda demonstrates the incompetence associated with Amtrak. The Inspector General of the organization went out and did an audit of time-cards. I've worked with government and private industry, and what you can generally expect of a time-card audit is maybe one-percent with issues, and the issues will generally be minor in nature. I've only known one guy ever fired over time-card fraud.
Well....this inspector for Amtrak did a long review and came to find at least twenty cases where people confessed they'd worked forty hours in one single day.
Yeah.....it's a bit hard to believe.....since we've been told over and over since high school.....there can be only twenty-four hours of time in one single day.
I paused over this and wondered....how it might be possible.
First, a guy might be finished with route one or his standard nine-hour route.....get pulled to help with a guy who didn't show up and pull another eight hours of duty. I can understand a case like that.....but it'd only get you up to seventeen hours.
Second, maybe the guy was on some weekend holiday deal and felt he needed to double-time the hours. But typically, you'd put in a separate code for weekend or holiday periods.....not to double your hours to meet the situation.
What will happen? Amtrak didn't say much and I assume that the inspector will privately meet with the dozen-odd people who claimed forty hours in one day, and try to get them to amend the card. This means they'd have to pay the money back or find some agreeable way of fixing this.
I would also suspect that some 'fix' will be put into the system and once you do more than twelve hours a day.....some boss will automatically get a warning and have to review your stupid card. Course, you'd think that a boss already reviews your card, and some bosses boss also review anyone with more than forty hours a week.
Guys getting a reputation for forty hours of work in one day? In Bama.....if word got out that you were charging the company for forty hours of work in one day.....folks would start to ask some stupid questions. You'd stall them by saying that you were praying for four hours of the forty (some companies might need a prayer)....clearing out files for four (you are shredding as fast as you are printing)....mowing company grass for six (you told the landscaper guy to go home early today).....working at the office normal business for ten....changing bathroom tiles in the office bathroom for four....and spending twelve hours in various meetings around the whole complex (some of which had nothing to do with your division or projects). Questions would arise and some doubt would be cast over your truthfulness. Frankly, once you got past ten hours of honest work....it's best not to brag much or admit much in public.
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
Book Review: Edge of the World
By Michael Pye
The full title is "The Edge of the World" or "How the North Sea Made US Who We Are".
First, if you were going to build a historical library for decades to come and you wanted five 'cornerstone' books to start the library with.....this is one of the five. It invites to sit down, pause, and ponder over the great revolution of sorts that came up in the North Sea region (UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, and Nordic countries), and how they advanced innovation, technology, capitalism, commerce, the world economy, and cultures.
The book is written in a fashion that you basically need to read one paragraph at a time, and soak in the vast amount of information that Pye is giving you. I almost consider the book to be a dozen books combined into one because of the depth of discussion involved.
Chapter two concerns the 'Book Trade' which generates a great deal of thinking and pondering how innovation and how we went quickly from a low-literate society in the 1500s, to a high literate society by the early 1700s. Information came in various packages and was consumed at a fantastic rate. Advancements were put into book form and people read the new strategy or ideas of one guy in another land, and took the ideas to their own craft or business.
If there are any negatives with the book....it's mostly over a large amount of knowledge that Pye is sharing with you, and you have to really put the book down....sometimes for days....to gaze over what he's laid out and you end doing additional reading from other sources to better grasp Pye's story. Pye could have made this a 1,500-page book, in my humble opinion. He does the best he can....condensing a fantastic story into a simple pure tale.
As for recommendations? I wouldn't suggest the book for high school kids because it's got way too much for most kids to handle. A amateur historian would love the book, and I think anyone who wants to really understand the way which innovation took us from a simple age to a bold new world.....this is the book to start with and use as a base.
The full title is "The Edge of the World" or "How the North Sea Made US Who We Are".
First, if you were going to build a historical library for decades to come and you wanted five 'cornerstone' books to start the library with.....this is one of the five. It invites to sit down, pause, and ponder over the great revolution of sorts that came up in the North Sea region (UK, Ireland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, and Nordic countries), and how they advanced innovation, technology, capitalism, commerce, the world economy, and cultures.
The book is written in a fashion that you basically need to read one paragraph at a time, and soak in the vast amount of information that Pye is giving you. I almost consider the book to be a dozen books combined into one because of the depth of discussion involved.
Chapter two concerns the 'Book Trade' which generates a great deal of thinking and pondering how innovation and how we went quickly from a low-literate society in the 1500s, to a high literate society by the early 1700s. Information came in various packages and was consumed at a fantastic rate. Advancements were put into book form and people read the new strategy or ideas of one guy in another land, and took the ideas to their own craft or business.
If there are any negatives with the book....it's mostly over a large amount of knowledge that Pye is sharing with you, and you have to really put the book down....sometimes for days....to gaze over what he's laid out and you end doing additional reading from other sources to better grasp Pye's story. Pye could have made this a 1,500-page book, in my humble opinion. He does the best he can....condensing a fantastic story into a simple pure tale.
As for recommendations? I wouldn't suggest the book for high school kids because it's got way too much for most kids to handle. A amateur historian would love the book, and I think anyone who wants to really understand the way which innovation took us from a simple age to a bold new world.....this is the book to start with and use as a base.
Flag Stuff
There are two flags in this little story. The first one.....this flag....came up in 1775 and has some Revolutionary War history tied to it. The Palmetto Tree was used to construct some fortifications.....which held up to British cannon fire. Everyone was impressed by that, and they simply made the tree into the flag. The half-crescent moon goes back to some notion of liberty (no Islam).
As the Civil War came up.....another flag was made up as the battle flag and it's more or less what stands around today and is a symbol of some sorts......but is considered the state battle flag.
So, to halt some radical thinking of people that they'd have to design an entirely new flag after they dump this Civil War battle flag.....no, they already have a flag sitting there and ready to go, and it's been around since 1775, with almost no one complaining about the blue and white flag....other than folks who hate Palmetto trees.
Getting rid of the old battle flag gets rid of racism? Well....no. It is a minor element of a marginal sense, and simply represents one single brick in the wall. As for continued production of the South Carolina battle flag? I would expect some Chinese flag shop to continue producing a couple thousand of these flags yearly, and at least ten thousand South Carolina folks to fly their battle flag as some type of stance. Maybe three-hundred years into the future.....it won't be such a big deal, but right now.....it's a state issue.
One little note.....as for states left with a 'problem'? Well.....Mississippi is about the last state with a connection to the Civil War. Alabama's flag is mildly representing the Civil War but has a white background. I'd expect a frenzy to occur in Mississippi by late summer and they'll replace their flag.
Monday, 22 June 2015
Karl and Guns
I rarely come to agree with Karl Rove (Bush's chief of staff for the entire eight years). He is from Alabama and I will admit that politically.....he knows how the system works). Yesterday on one of Sunday talk-shows....the subject of the Charleston shooting got brought up. Karl got challenged. Karl got witty. Karl then says.....if you want to stop all these shootings, why not just amend the Constitution and delete the second amendment?
It was a brilliant suggestion, and puts the view into a different prospective. Let's say that an effort started up and a year down the road.....enough votes occurred state-by-state.....to revoke the second amendment. What happens next?
Fifty separate state legislatures and the DC Congress would meet and argue for months and months over the 'new' rules. As soon as you felt the smoke cleared slightly.....some nut would come out and shoot a dozen people....scarring the public to either suggest bringing back the second amendment or making more stringent rules about guns. People would start to question why cops need automatic rifles or pistols. Some people would question the military for the need for automatic rifles. Some legal nut would sue the federal government claiming a free and happy life could only be guaranteed by having guns for protection.
In this regard, Karl has it correct. Go ahead and start to screw around with the Constitution.....like they did in 1919 to make alcohol illegal. It took around a decade for everyone to admit.....that was a big mistake. Dissolving the second amendment? It'd likely take less than three years for the public to admit that this correction didn't really help matters.
It was a brilliant suggestion, and puts the view into a different prospective. Let's say that an effort started up and a year down the road.....enough votes occurred state-by-state.....to revoke the second amendment. What happens next?
Fifty separate state legislatures and the DC Congress would meet and argue for months and months over the 'new' rules. As soon as you felt the smoke cleared slightly.....some nut would come out and shoot a dozen people....scarring the public to either suggest bringing back the second amendment or making more stringent rules about guns. People would start to question why cops need automatic rifles or pistols. Some people would question the military for the need for automatic rifles. Some legal nut would sue the federal government claiming a free and happy life could only be guaranteed by having guns for protection.
In this regard, Karl has it correct. Go ahead and start to screw around with the Constitution.....like they did in 1919 to make alcohol illegal. It took around a decade for everyone to admit.....that was a big mistake. Dissolving the second amendment? It'd likely take less than three years for the public to admit that this correction didn't really help matters.
Sunday, 21 June 2015
The Thing About Phobias
Around twenty years ago.....I worked around a person who came to admit one day that they had a fair number of phobias. Being from Bama.....I know of the business surrounding phobias and have some brief understanding (probably six lines at best) of the science over the topic of phobias. As one professor explained in a class one day.....phobias are real, but they could be just as much imaginary, if a person desired them that way. That kinda stuck in my mind.
Most people I know.....have at least one phobia. The most popular one is spiders or snakes. I've run across a few guys who had a phobia about relationships, or fear of heights (I get this one if I have to climb on the roof of some two-story house). I've come across a number of women who had a phobia about insects, or cockroaches.
This co-worker though.....admitted to roughly a dozen-odd phobias. They'd even gone to a mental health doctor and the doctor had written this stuff into their military health records. I kinda asked at this point.....did the doctor really confirm this stuff or did they write without any evidence? Well....yeah, it was mostly just agreeing but without any evidence. I didn't see what good this mention in the records would do, but they must have figured it'd help them down the road.
Most of these alleged phobias of my co-worker....I've forgotten. The two that stuck out in my mind were fear of darkness, and fear of scents or smells. Working in a vault was a daily problem for this individual to handle and they kept a flashlight around with them constantly....in fear of the lights going out. Maybe once a year....electricity around the base would cease and the emergency lights would flicker on and this person would be in a huge panic to get out of the building....into the sunlight. The scent thing would drive us in the shop crazy.....we'd be asked if we switched after-shaves, or started using a new soap. If we were painting.....this individual would have to leave the building for a day or two before things would be acceptable to work in the shop again. Someone came in one day after getting a new car, and our scent-freak spoke out that they could smell new-car-scent on them.
There are literally thousands of phobias that are recognized today: fear of virgins, fear of bald guys, fear of getting a fever, fear of Chinese people, fear of lusty and beautiful women, and even fear of people uttering foreign languages (walking a French airport would freak them out greatly).
I've gotten to the point where I can sense when someone is showing anxiety and panic attacks over a phobia. I'll just ask a question and try to draw them into a calm state of mind.....take some deep breath moments....sip some water....and try to just get over it. The simple stuff isn't ever a problem. When they kinda hint that they got problems in taking medication (which the doctor told them to take).....or they got some issue with flying in a plane and we are ten minutes into a two-hour flight, well.....it's too damn late to solve this issue. I'm more into a direct-mode and telling them to suck it up and just get on with what they got to do.
Lacking patience or understanding with people with phobias? No. I can understand a few of these. But some start to make me laugh.....like a fear of beer, or a fear of anything new. It's irrational and I just don't have the patience to play games with some guy on these issues. Life is pretty short, and if you are standing around and worrying about big-breasted women or worrying over a fear of cats.....you'd best clean up your act and enjoy what you got.
Most people I know.....have at least one phobia. The most popular one is spiders or snakes. I've run across a few guys who had a phobia about relationships, or fear of heights (I get this one if I have to climb on the roof of some two-story house). I've come across a number of women who had a phobia about insects, or cockroaches.
This co-worker though.....admitted to roughly a dozen-odd phobias. They'd even gone to a mental health doctor and the doctor had written this stuff into their military health records. I kinda asked at this point.....did the doctor really confirm this stuff or did they write without any evidence? Well....yeah, it was mostly just agreeing but without any evidence. I didn't see what good this mention in the records would do, but they must have figured it'd help them down the road.
Most of these alleged phobias of my co-worker....I've forgotten. The two that stuck out in my mind were fear of darkness, and fear of scents or smells. Working in a vault was a daily problem for this individual to handle and they kept a flashlight around with them constantly....in fear of the lights going out. Maybe once a year....electricity around the base would cease and the emergency lights would flicker on and this person would be in a huge panic to get out of the building....into the sunlight. The scent thing would drive us in the shop crazy.....we'd be asked if we switched after-shaves, or started using a new soap. If we were painting.....this individual would have to leave the building for a day or two before things would be acceptable to work in the shop again. Someone came in one day after getting a new car, and our scent-freak spoke out that they could smell new-car-scent on them.
There are literally thousands of phobias that are recognized today: fear of virgins, fear of bald guys, fear of getting a fever, fear of Chinese people, fear of lusty and beautiful women, and even fear of people uttering foreign languages (walking a French airport would freak them out greatly).
I've gotten to the point where I can sense when someone is showing anxiety and panic attacks over a phobia. I'll just ask a question and try to draw them into a calm state of mind.....take some deep breath moments....sip some water....and try to just get over it. The simple stuff isn't ever a problem. When they kinda hint that they got problems in taking medication (which the doctor told them to take).....or they got some issue with flying in a plane and we are ten minutes into a two-hour flight, well.....it's too damn late to solve this issue. I'm more into a direct-mode and telling them to suck it up and just get on with what they got to do.
Lacking patience or understanding with people with phobias? No. I can understand a few of these. But some start to make me laugh.....like a fear of beer, or a fear of anything new. It's irrational and I just don't have the patience to play games with some guy on these issues. Life is pretty short, and if you are standing around and worrying about big-breasted women or worrying over a fear of cats.....you'd best clean up your act and enjoy what you got.
Saturday, 20 June 2015
Charleston Shooter
Generally, if you wait five to seven days after a mass shooting....you start to get to the 'real' story (usually not gun-related). In the Charleston episode....Dylann Storm Roof....was taking medication.
Suboxone.
You take Suboxone when you are already addicted to some opiate drugs, and you want to get off them. If you have pain-related issues....you DON'T get any relief with Suboxone. Once you get on Suboxone....unless you really pay attention and have a limited amount of the drug.....you will become permanently addicted to it (at least the experts say this).
There's this one odd affect of Suboxone.
If you've been taking Suboxone for a while and gotten pretty accustomed to it......then you think you want to quit it, in most cases, you will become aggravated and violent. Based on what I've read.....you have a sudden bout of physical frustration and uncontrolled reactions to real-life situations. In effect, you are a walking-time-bomb.
As much as some people want to desperately blame guns for this particular act.....it's again....drug-abuse. The hint usually, which I will offer as simply common sense, is that normal regular people don't walk up to a group of people and utilize a gun in a cold-hard fashion to kill a group of people. It's a different case where you have an ex-wife or ex-husband who wants to take out the former spouse with a gun. They have motivation and don't require any drugs to reach their intended goal. But when you talk about strangers, and a group of people....it just doesn't work the way that most people think.
As for a just punishment for this kid? You have no choice.....he was stupid enough to be addicted and it's his own fault. It may take six years, maybe even fifteen years.....but he'll eventually be put to death.
Suboxone.
You take Suboxone when you are already addicted to some opiate drugs, and you want to get off them. If you have pain-related issues....you DON'T get any relief with Suboxone. Once you get on Suboxone....unless you really pay attention and have a limited amount of the drug.....you will become permanently addicted to it (at least the experts say this).
There's this one odd affect of Suboxone.
If you've been taking Suboxone for a while and gotten pretty accustomed to it......then you think you want to quit it, in most cases, you will become aggravated and violent. Based on what I've read.....you have a sudden bout of physical frustration and uncontrolled reactions to real-life situations. In effect, you are a walking-time-bomb.
As much as some people want to desperately blame guns for this particular act.....it's again....drug-abuse. The hint usually, which I will offer as simply common sense, is that normal regular people don't walk up to a group of people and utilize a gun in a cold-hard fashion to kill a group of people. It's a different case where you have an ex-wife or ex-husband who wants to take out the former spouse with a gun. They have motivation and don't require any drugs to reach their intended goal. But when you talk about strangers, and a group of people....it just doesn't work the way that most people think.
As for a just punishment for this kid? You have no choice.....he was stupid enough to be addicted and it's his own fault. It may take six years, maybe even fifteen years.....but he'll eventually be put to death.
Friday, 19 June 2015
The $10 Bill Figure?
There's talk this week that within the next couple of years.....the Treasury Department will put out a new $10-bill....without Hamilton's face on it. Instead, it'll feature a woman's face. Who? Currently....undecided (at least that's what they say). Congress will have some words over this and I'm pretty sure that they will have the final say.
My choices?
1. Marilyn Monroe. I know....she's a lusty gal with drug issues but she's iconic.
2. Amelia Earhart. I know....she's the missing gal from the 1930s. But she's also iconic.
3. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. The last queen of the Pacific Island.
4. Mila Hamm. Retired American pro-soccer player. I know.....no one much has heard of her but within the soccer field.....she's known.
5. Annie Oakley. Best female shooter that ever lived, period.
6. Calamity Jane. For a decade or two.....she was one of the best shooters of the 1800s. Then life went into a spiral, and she drank herself to death.
7. Clare Barton. The Red Cross gal and a fairly genuine person (no thrills, no gossip, no pimps, no issues).
8. Margret Mead. Probably the most intellectural gal that the US ever produced.
9. Pocahontas. Basically.....she was not an American (this was way before 1776) but she was Native American and it'd count double on approval rating if you put her on the bill.
10. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yeah, she's the one who wrote Little House on the Prairie. It might be hokey but folks have some image of her, and American culture.....so she's an icon.
My guess is that it'll be awful hard for the Senate to reach some conclusion and in the end.....they will pick someone like Pocahontas as the acceptable figure for everyone.
What this does though....is open the door for changes with the $1, $20 and $100 bills. I suspect within five years after we get this issue with the $10 bill resolved.....other suggestions will pop up and even the figures on the coins will come into a debate. Who knows.....maybe Elvis will eventually make his way onto the 25-cent coin.
My choices?
1. Marilyn Monroe. I know....she's a lusty gal with drug issues but she's iconic.
2. Amelia Earhart. I know....she's the missing gal from the 1930s. But she's also iconic.
3. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. The last queen of the Pacific Island.
4. Mila Hamm. Retired American pro-soccer player. I know.....no one much has heard of her but within the soccer field.....she's known.
5. Annie Oakley. Best female shooter that ever lived, period.
6. Calamity Jane. For a decade or two.....she was one of the best shooters of the 1800s. Then life went into a spiral, and she drank herself to death.
7. Clare Barton. The Red Cross gal and a fairly genuine person (no thrills, no gossip, no pimps, no issues).
8. Margret Mead. Probably the most intellectural gal that the US ever produced.
9. Pocahontas. Basically.....she was not an American (this was way before 1776) but she was Native American and it'd count double on approval rating if you put her on the bill.
10. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yeah, she's the one who wrote Little House on the Prairie. It might be hokey but folks have some image of her, and American culture.....so she's an icon.
My guess is that it'll be awful hard for the Senate to reach some conclusion and in the end.....they will pick someone like Pocahontas as the acceptable figure for everyone.
What this does though....is open the door for changes with the $1, $20 and $100 bills. I suspect within five years after we get this issue with the $10 bill resolved.....other suggestions will pop up and even the figures on the coins will come into a debate. Who knows.....maybe Elvis will eventually make his way onto the 25-cent coin.
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