Uneventful Memorial Day

Well, except for when we all ended up at the hospital late in the evening. It's late and I've got a class to get ready for, so that story shall wait till tomorrow. I'll leave you with a Nick's eye view of the parade yesterday in the meantime:

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

I'll probably be marching with the fire companies in the yearly parade thingy they do. I may or may not post pics, depending on whether they're any good. Last year the parade was just plain manky, but maybe this year's will be better...

Yearly Review

I had my yearly appraisal with my manager. We go by fiscal year, and ours ended recently. As is always the case, I was deemed a paragon of wit, efficiency, productivity, timeliness and success. I'd honestly like to see them try to grade me as anything but. I know what's expected of me, and I make sure I deliver not too long before the deadline. I procrastinate a lot, admittedly, since I could be delivering most of my assignments weeks before they're due, but I learned not to overachieve too much in this company. You go around doing that and more sooner than later you start to get more work piled on you, and less time allowed to do it in. Meltdown lies down that road, and this particular employer is far from deserving of my best efforts.

Last year, during this same exercise, my manager all but apologized for the very crappy raise he knew was coming down the pipeline. Our raises are supposed to be tied to our performance, and even those of us deemed to be in the top ranks of high performance last time got raises which, at my prior employer, would have meant you were on the shitlist and lucky you hadn't been fired. Times have changed, granted, but I think this company never was too big on raises to begin with.

Anyway, this time around my manager said that although raises had not been finalized on yet, so he couldn't really give me a number, he was pretty sure I'd be happy with mine this year. I should know within a month. I wasn't hoping for much, so I just might be pleasantly surprised. Who knows? I may even feel forced to cut back on my internet reading time if the raise is good enough, but I sort of doubt it.

The other aspect of my chat with my manager, was on where I saw myself within the company a few years down the road. I can take on far more work and responsibility than I have now, but as I said before, I'll be damned if I do that without a significant pay grade hike. My manager said he'd approve a well-crafted development plan if I presented it to him, along with a rational set of aspirations that the development plan would help me reach. That would be a first, since every year the first thing slashed from the budget is our training & travel money. Still, I haven't known this guy to be an outright bullshitter, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. If he gets me a promotion, or a bigger account, I'll certainly put in some of my time and effort into the mix.

I still do not like this company, but if I see a way to play ball and get some perks, I'll certainly change my approach. Time will tell.

Almost had a Heart Attack

I discovered a rather nifty electronic device which I'd wanted for myself for some time now, but hadn't been able to justify spending a couple of hundred on, just sitting in my mailbox at work. Well, it was inside a FedEx package, but upon opening it, that's what it turned out to contain.

Setting it up right now.

It was a gift from my employer, along with a letter saying it was in recognition of my outstanding efforts during the past fiscal year which had allowed the company to achieve its goals and yada yada yada. Guess that's in lieu of the good raise we won't get. Still, it's better than nothing, which is what folks in other areas of our company will get, neither raise nor nifty device, so I guess I shouldn't be too ungrateful.

And it is a step in the right direction, for a company that treats its employees like pond scum mostly. That's why I almost had a heart attack when I saw what it was and who it was from.

Regression/Progression

For one reason or another, there are parts of me that I've suppressed for years now. Some I suppressed so completely that I'd forgotten I'd done so; parts of my mind, abilities, memories, preferences, attitudes and more that I locked away and almost, but not quite, threw away the key. The mind is a curious animal, but more than that, it's also one easily trained. One can lock away parts of it, and set up a mnemonic to unlock them at a future date. I must have predicted a period when that part of my mind would have been counterproductive to my progress, and I must have equally predicted the circumstances which would require that knowledge and those abilities, predicted them so accurately that I could key in mnemonics that would be triggered by future events. I must have been a freaking genius.

It is going to be so much fun when I'm whole again.

Trump University

With considerable amusement, I heard a blurb on the news about Donald Trump opening up an online, for profit university. Presumably to teach his business strategies to the rest of us. That's sort of like John Kerry* charging people for classes on "Effective Speeches". Donald Trump has gone bankrupt more times than your typical Hollywood starlet has had cosmetic surgery. We really need, as a nation and a culture, to start choosing our role models more wisely. When a man that is best noted for filing bankruptcy, hosting a reality show and lately, doing trashy commercials is imparting business advice for a fee, then something has gone seriously wrong.

Recently Bill Cosby had the balls to note something similar to what I'm saying, when he mentioned that black youth were going seriously astray by learning to talk in a variation of the English language colloquially known as Ebonics, which is intelligible only to them. He pointed out that with all the disadvantages currently facing African-Americans in the U.S. job market, it was the height of idiocy to tack on a complete inability to make themselves understood, just for the hell of it. He was attacked by a lot of morons, too, just for telling something that is very true, has to have been noticed by others before Cosby, but is completely and utterly politically incorrect. Yet Blacks will continue to refuse to use common English because their role models don't use it. The problem is that those role models are millionaires, be they rap stars, sports stars or whatnot, and as all successful people, can get away with flaunting the rules. Not so when you belong to the commoner component of our society.

In the same vein, we have a high percentage of idiots supporting Michael Jackson, despite clear evidence that he has serious issues, and far more disturbing, parents still willing to leave their children in Michael's custody despite all the red flags over the years.

Meanwhile, the people who should be admired, looked up to, emulated and set up as examples are as anonymous as a blank page. Just to give you a clear picture, go compare the salary of a typical grade school teacher with that of the least NBA player. Now tell me which of those two is of greater value to society. Sad, isn't it?

*2004 U.S. Democratic Party Presidential Candidate infamous for making a huge blunder in every single speech. He gave us such gems as "I voted for the 87 billion right before I voted against them", as well as proudly proclaiming himself the owner of a fleet of SUVs during a speech delivered in an auto-making city, and saying he didn't own them, that they actually belonged to his family, the very next day when he delivered a speech to some eco-freaks.

Training Video

Yesterday we had a special assignment at the firehouse. A nearby hospital asked us to stage an accident with entrapment and go through everything that's done, from receiving the initial call, through cracking open the vehicle(s) and releasing the victims, through initial care, through ambulancing the more serious ones to a nearby helipad for pickup by a MedEvac (helicopter) crew. All the time, a film crew would be with us to capture everything.

Our chief had someone prepare the accident site, which involved pushing a wreck into a tree, and positioning another wreck nearby. Victims were placed inside one of them. Once the pagers were hit, we dawdled for a few minutes, to simulate the time it takes us to receive the page, hop into our personal vehicles, and get to the firehouse. We then got into our gear, and piled into the trucks. There were almost 20 of us, I think, which was unreal. In a real call if we get 5 people, that's good.

We proceeded to the accident site, piled out, and started staging our equipment, cribbing and other stuff. First thing we did afterwards was crib the vehicles. That means we used blocks of wood underneath them to stabilize them, preventing them from slipping, tilting or otherwise moving while we worked them. In the meantime, our power generator was setup, for the hydraulic tools, like the "jaws of life", and the probies (junior firefighters), hooked up the sol-saws so we could carve the car like a side of beef. Other firefighters crawled into the vehicle with the victims inside and talked to them, finding out where they were hurt, and also making sure to hold their heads steady, in case of any neck injuries.

Once the vehicles were stabilized, and the victims triaged, said victims were covered with blankets, cause glass was going to start aflying... I poked a hole in one corner of the windshield with a halogen (big spike thingy) while another firefighter used another tool to pop out all the side windows. I then proceeded to cut away the windshield across the bottom with an axe, while yet another firefighter slipped a sol-saw into the puncture I'd started from and cut the first post. Other firefighters with sol-saws started attacking the other posts.

About 5 minutes later I was asked to steady the roof cause there was just one post left. Between 4 or 5 of us we manhandled the roof up and away, exposing the inside of the car. The patients were moved onto backboards and lifted out to a waiting ambulance. The ambulance rushed them to the nearby helipad. In a real accident, it would have taken a good half hour more to get to this point, simply because we wouldn't have had so much manpower. We'd have had to do the same with just 4 or 5 of us, in twice the time, if all went well.

We tidied up the scene and put back all of our equipment. Normally, at that point, we'd go back to the firehouse, get our gear off, clean anything that needed cleaning, sign off and go home. This time we went to the helipad to watch the rest of the filming.

After a long time, almost an hour, the helicopter finally appeared. They landed and we helped move one of the patients from the ambulance across to the helicopter. That's when it happened.

The stupid cameraman positioned himself in between us and the helicopter, and as we approached, he started moving backwards to keep us in focus and perspective, I guess. I'm going to assume he never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of the pilots jumped at him and pushed him away when his head was about a foot from the rear rotor, which was still spinning merrily away. All of us were staring in amazement at the imbecile, who never knew he was in any danger. He just took the shove to mean that he was in someone's way and moved off to the side, to continue shooting. I was a bit peeved at the pilot, as I'd already braced myself for a baptism in blood.

The helicopter took off with the victim, did a few lazy circles overhead, and came back down. Everyone patted everyone else on the back, said good job, and we called it a night. On the way back to the firehouse, on the trucks, we were all talking about the moron and how unfair it was that he'd been stopped before we got a chance to see his head fly off.

Yes, we are a sick, sick bunch of people. :) And if you have an accident in our area, we'll get to go out and help you. Won't that be fun?

Only 8th Level? Must try harder....

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Eigth Level of Hell - the Malebolge!

Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Very High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very High
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	High
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Extreme
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

Society and its ills

Society's lifeblood is the willingness of everyone who makes it up to do a little bit extra, for the common good. Even I, who disapprove of society in general understand this, and try to do my bit since I do partake of society's benefits. It will never cease to amaze me how purportedly intelligent people can rant and rave over how they don't need to do anything extra, or even feel any gratefulness to country or society in general, because they didn't choose to be a part of society. Were society not around to safeguard these very same folks, they'd be dead in days. It's not that they'd have a lot to offer, anyway, since most of the people I'm referring to are about as useful as a wart on your ass, but they don't even make an effort.

We definitely need another cataclysm about now, before even the worthwhile people decide it's too much bother and join the parasites. Due to personal plans, I'd prefer the cataclysm to wait another year. Thanks.

Western Scam

Every now and then, about once a year, I browse over to Western Union's website and go through the motions of sending money through it. I proceed only far enough to check what the fee would be, before cancelling. For three years now, it's been slightly higher to send money over the web, than it is to go to a supermarket, fill out the form and send it that way, still through Western Union, please note. They have a counter at most supermarkets.

When I first started using the website, it was about 3 dollars cheaper to do it online, which is just common sense, since it's cheaper for Western Union, too. I'm sure they have to prefer I do it online since they don't have to give a commission to the supermarket, not to mention the rest of the overhead, like printed forms and the like.

After a while, though, it started to be slightly more expensive to do it online, by a dollar or so. Not really enough to piss me off and make me go to the supermarket. Then, a bit later, the difference increased to where it was worth making the trip. I emailed Western Union at the time, and tried to explain basic economy to them, to no avail, so I switched to sending via the supermarket.

Today I checked again, and it just gets wilder every time:

Amount you are sending : $ 350.00 Modify Amount
Money transfer charge : $ 42.00
Additional Service Charges Modify Additional Services
Notification charge : $ 0.00
Message charge : $ 0.00
Total Amount Due : $ 392.00

The same amount sent to the same exact place, but at a supermarket, costs 14 dollars. That's a 28 dollar difference based on what, exactly? There has to be one hell of a stupid asshole (or maybe a Magrathean, seeing as the fee is 42?) dictating policy over at Western Union, and the worst thing is, there are probably people using the online services, not knowing any better.

Occam's Razor

What happens if we have two mutually exclusive hypotheses to explain a single event, and both are equally simple? Does that make both of them true, in some quantum mechanistic version of Occam's Razor? Or may one safely subscribe to the least horrific option? I'm going to have to do that, for my peace of mind, and will call my version of Occam the Inverse Lovecraftian Occam's Razor, where one picks the least horrifying (hence inverse) and simplest of all possible explanations...

Happy Day!

Happy Friday the 13th!!!!

Muslim Roots

Interesting article I stumbled across while looking for something else. It contrasts Tolkien, Islam and Manichaeism, and provides a nice theory on what makes Islam tick these days. The theory is heavily colored by the author's own religion, which happens to be Christianity, but it still makes some valid points. And let's not forget, anyway, that one man's religion is another man's mythology. If we allow for that in our equations, events may require less conflict than otherwise.

As a disclaimer, I have to confess that I am a proponent of Manichaeism myself. My beliefs lean towards a balance, or an equilibrium, if you will, between the forces of Chaos and those of Order. A balance up to a certain point in time, as I also believe in a battle at some future date which will allow for one side to triumph over the other. This triumph might be permanent or temporary. I tend to distrust any religion/mythology that postulates an omnipotent (all strong; peerless in strength) God who favors "good" while at the same time allowing for an "evil" Adversary to exist. A Lucifer rebelling against an omnipotent Yahweh, just to use the Judeo-Christian version, doesn't imply that Lucifer's evil, it implies that he's stupid, and that just doesn't make any sense to me.

Poor Douglas Adams!!!

Against my better judgment, I went to the movies this weekend and watched Hitchhiker's. Ye Gods, did it suck. How could they do that to Adams's wonderful trilogy? The only good piece of casting, except for Marvin (who is, properly so, just a voice and an attitude), was the black dude that did Ford Prefect. I was expecting that to jar, but in retrospect, the book's Ford did act very ebonic without it ever being said that's what he was. The good bits? Ford, Marvin, the Vogons and the animations representing Guide lookups. All else was crap.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that film isn't the right medium for Hitchhiker's. In the producers' defense, they did, more or less, stick to the book, with only a few hops into other parts of the trilogy and one outright digression into God knows whose imagination which for the life of me I can't remember now. I must have blanked it out the same way trauma victims do, and probably for the exact same reason, I felt violated.

I'm sure someone must have pre-screened this movie and noticed it sucked. You'd think they could have cancelled it at that point instead of torturing the fans. To be honest, I'd prefer to sit through a Vogon Poetry Reading and not have been subject to the movie, that's how crappy it was.

It should have gone straight to video. The only review I've read, just now, is glowing, which just goes to show how anally backwards critics are.

Killing Animals

Want to know who's killing animals now? PETA, that's who... It's wonderful when morons like PETA get caught with egg on their face.

"We've discovered that since 1998, PETA has actually "liberated" over 10,000 dogs and cats -- from life itself. PETA killed these animals at its Virginia headquarters, rather than spending a portion of its enormous bankroll actually caring for them." http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Star Wars - New Movie

About the only way Lucas can save the franchise, and make anyone believe that the wimpy, whiny, obnoxious Anakin turns into the sleek, evil Darth Vader, is by having someone kill Anakin in the movie, unbeknownst to the rest, and have him replaced by the real Darth Vader.

I'll wait till Episode 3's out free on HBO or something, not wasting money on seeing it at a cinema. Lucas should have left well enough alone and never released Episodes 1-3, in my opinion. In a 100 years, someone should redo them the right way, too.

Movies

I may break my ban on going to the cinema just for Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I don't remember a black dude in the book, but then again, I haven't read it in ages. Who's he supposed to be, anyway? Dent? Ford? Marvin?

Curious factoid. I once played Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz in a play, back when no one had heard of the Guide outside of England, and it was simply a radio show. I'd originally auditioned for Marvin.

Oh, Goody! A challenge!

The burger war intensifies...

Followups

I recently linked to a story about toads exploding in Germany and promised to discuss further the following day, but never did. That is common. I frequently move on to other things, and then belatedly backtrack and cover up the gaps.

Toads are magickal creatures, as anyone experienced in the Black Arts will cheerfully volunteer. It is a fact that when they die, instead of rotting, they will dry up. Their powdered corpses can be used in an infinity of spells and potions, to excellent effect, too. Harming one, unless proper mystical precautions are taken, is not recommended.

So, something making toads explode is noteworthy to me, as well as to any other real practitioners out there. Toads' natural shields should suffice against casual attacks, or even random occult surges, and no adept worthy of the title would knowingly harm toads en masse.

An article posted after the original news story claims that crows may be behind the phenomenon. It seems the lovable critters may have learned where to peck in order to extract the toad's liver, long considered a delicacy by discerning crows. I'm not too sure. I think I'll have to set aside some time and do an astral jaunte to Hamburg and take a look for myself. Who knows, it could even be a trap laid out for me, knowing I would investigate something like this. As Sensei says, you beat action by greeting it, not by avoiding it.

On a different subject, I saw that the missing bride appeared, none the worse for wear, after disappearing a few days before her wedding was to have taken place. They're looking at filing charges against her, and making her pay for the search that took place for her. Her explanation is that she got cold feet and didn't know anyone was looking for her. I'm sure she can pay for the search and still have money left over, once she signs book and movie deals. Given today's (lack of) culture in America, she may even have a reality show built around her escapade.

What a shame. I was so looking forward to another long, drawn out story, ending with a corpse and yet another celebrity trial. Oh, well, maybe her boyfriend will still kill her, seeing as he now has a motive.

On this day in history...

Just thought this was hilarious to the extreme...

1897: When Louisa Bicknese Luetgert disappeared from her Chicago home on May 1, her relatives, who knew of her troubled marriage, immediately suspected her husband. Detectives ultimately found her wedding ring at the bottom of one of the rendering vats in her husband’s sausage factory. Adolf Luetgert was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Although he probably burned his wife’s body, rumors spread that he had ground her into links, depressing the Chicago sausage market that year.