I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Linkee-poo never felt like smiling, Sugar wanna' kill me yet

Busy steve is busy. Test tonight, so most of these are from yesterday. Hope to have fresher content soon.

Mur Lafferty points to Mary Robinette Kowal and her response to a misprint that for most people would have have them lamenting into their beers. Look and learn… and try to internalize. Excellent example of what to do.

And, Mary Robinette Kowal on writing an effective sequel. So, apparently, today's Muse is being played by Mary Robinette Kowal. Please adjust your programs.

Yesterday must have been a privilege review day. I didn't have it on my calendar, but Jay Lake did and looked at it in light of his own human experience (traveling the world, and now having cancer). Jim Hines also took a whack at it and reminds us that even if we approach privilege from an "enlightened" (self-aware) view point, you still can make some mistakes. Because that's how ingrained and insidious it is.

Well, because God, in some ways, is the very definition of the false consensus effect.

"Without the government assistance, many of the people who would be interested in applying for the driving jobs could not afford the $4,000 classes to obtain commercial driver’s licenses. Now Atlas is struggling to find eligible drivers." Dear Atlas, maybe you should start your own job training program. You know, like fiscal conservatives believe you should. And I have to admit, there's been several news programs like this lately. The "We'd like to hire more people but we can't find any good employees." "Good employees" in this case equals "already trained, and willing to overwork for the pittance we offer." And yet, these employers are often the very people who scream, "market forces" whenever some government program or regulation stands in their way of doing what is cheap, easy, and against the benefit of their employees or the people living around them. "Mr. Griffin said the company would consider training applicants itself if they would 'sign a piece of paper saying that when they graduate they will come to work for us for two years.'" Okay, and is the company willing to sign a paper saying that the employee will be employed by Atlas full-time for those two years? If not, you're whistling dixie. As I've told my own work place, "After 5 is my time, by our policy and by my interview. If you want me to stop going to school, offer me a job for life or a substantial raise." I haven't been offered either, in case you're wondering. Also from the article, "Training advocates say that paying for education yields a better return than simply continuing to pay unemployment benefits… every dollar spent on training dislocated workers in 2009 returned about $8.70 to the local economy…" But don't tell small government conservatives that. Okay, well, you could, but they won't believe you. (Grokked from the Slacktivist)

Tweet of my heart:
@MykeCole: Fishing for compliments/encouragement can be dangerous. If you keep telling people, "I suck," eventually, they'll believe you. Cowboy up.

Alligator Quotient: It's dark in here.

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