$ jlc (10,317)

The Missouri office collects some of this to use on me because they know I love them. My favorite: "I'll jump on that like a duck on a Junebug."

I can see it.

Jan

“Born on third and thought he hit a triple.”

I do not like the comments in the article on several of these sayings (including the above) and I would like to morph them a bit. How about,
"Didn't matter that he was born on third, 'cause he hit a triple."

Jan

Bravo for them; we need that type of person here. I am merely attempting to indicate which way I think the default should be set.

Jan

Bravo for them; we need that type of person here. I am merely attempting to indicate which way I think the default should be set.

Jan

I agree, db. One of the paleogenticists I follow has had a major - even leading - role in endorsing the online publication of new findings. This eliminates the prior-to-publication peer review and cuts the lag time down from years to days. It does not, however, remove peer review since other authorities may post their opinions of the article after it is published (and generally a number of them have had the article sent to them in advance to give the author a chance fix weak spots). You are right about the incidence of bogus peer-review in recent major journals!

The pre-Clovis archaeologists of the New World had been pretty much shut down for more than a century by a peer-group gatekeeping mechanism. Now, a few good finds and the inability to prevent publication has opened the sluice gates and many pre-Clovis finds are reported.

It is more than just articles: scans of actual fossils (of immense importance) are being disseminated online by their discoverers. Finds that formerly would have been sequestered for generations are now being 3D printed and passed around in undergraduate classrooms.

We are in a new era, and I like it. A scientists reputation is ultimately made by his reputation and a well done experiment with valid methodology that is published online and which receives positive comments from other authorities meets all the criteria for establishing that reputation.

Jan

The easiest way to make sure that American jobs do not get outsourced is to make the people who are doing those jobs into Americans. If they are willing to work at lower wages in order not to be cast back into the country of their origin, and they have important skills, then WooHoo: win-win.

I think that the lack of personnel for low-level jobs should be accounted for by a temp visa system (strawberries need to be picked); for people who have graduated with needed tech degrees then let's keep them here as citizens.

Jan

That pretty much sums it up.

Jan

Heck no! I signed up on this site to spend a couple of years talking about some movies...

...If I had foreseen the duration of my engagement here and the range of discussions, I might well have taken a pseudonym. (I rarely post on any other lists (LOTR & io9) and I have carefully implemented an anonymous name for the latter.) I do not do Facebook or any other social media, so my online profile is pretty much 'here'.

I sometimes think I should have implemented a nickname for this site, but since I did not - and Wm had told me his 5th grade English teacher story - I went in the other direction and reminded myself of my visibility by actually signing all of my posts,

Jan

Which is the situation that we are dealing with now in the US. We have to figure out how we can dig our society out of the hole of 'liberal education' and 'liberal press'.

Jan

I was looking up a quote I had read on India and Objectivism and I came across this article:
http://sepiamutiny.com/blog/2005/08/2...

And here is another good one:
https://indiancapitalism.wordpress.co...

The remark that I was looking for was to the effect that 'India has survived Socialism and it doesn't look as attractive any more to us.'. I do not seem to find it right now, but I do think that our very prosperity is working against us. People do not know how bad things would be were the US socialist.

Jan

This is the statement that seemed to me the most crucial re your relationship to your employer: "I could take on all kinds of challenges, even tried some impossible ones. All I ever really got was an "atta-boy" for those jobs."

I don't disagree with your decision; I do disagree with some of the other comments on this thread.

Jan

Yes, thank you.

Jan

I agree with your analysis and have given you a point. I would also give you another point for mentioning Epicurus, but I lack the ability to do so. Please take another virtual +1.

Jan

I do not disagree with your decision, Abaco, but I come at it from a different rational.

I am 'them' - a corporate executive. We often move a poorly functioning employee around to see if there is a place where there is a better 'fit'; we also often move a premier employee around to see if they have even more capacity than they have already shown. We are a small company, and our paychecks come out of what we earn: This means that you have to move the good employee to the higher responsibility position before you raise their pay - because their pay increase comes out of a percentage of 'the more money the company is now making because of increased performance'. (Conversely, moving the poorly performing employee to a new job may be a prelude to firing him if the fit is still not good.)

What you describe, Abaco is something different: lack of fealty. I also do medieval reenactment (as do Wm and several others in the company), and I am of the opinion that there is a fealty relationship between employer and employee - a reciprocity of loyalty and - in medieval times - a profit sharing agreement. What you are saying, Abaco, is that your employer has broken fealty with you. You have pulled their chestnuts out of the fire several times previously and they have not rewarded you for it. This does not speak well of their quality.

I disagree with those people who say that a career is not important. This varies from person to person. I agree with giellopudding (! - never thought to type that sentence in my life!) in that you have to determine what is important to you. If a career IS important to you, then that is a valid life decision - acknowledge it and pursue it. You are an individual and you shape the character of your own life.

Jan

I don't think we need to show/explain how capitalism works - I don't think most people give a hoot. I think we need to show capitalism 'working' and strong high-tech heroes fighting against images of socialism: bread lines, no choices, hopeless lives.

Most people are not interested in philosophy. What we need from them is their ability to support the fabric of our society...and their general good attitude towards capitalism and individual freedom. They have been taught in school that business is evil, that the environment is god, that altruism is the mark of the high quality, trustworthy, person. This is what we have to 'undo'. We need positive images to communicate with people who do not live (want to live or even need to live) an intellectual life.

Since we are the outliers, we are the ones who have to extend ourselves to communicate. This is why we have come together on a site that originated to talk about some movies.

Jan

Jubal was the star of the book for me. I still remember him saying something to the effect of, "I refuse to wallow in the woes of 2 billion people." (Now, 7.3 billion...) I think of this whenever I read the news, because that is what they serve us.

Jan

That was a great morning read, Michael!!! Thank you so much.

My father (and his) were Mustang Mavericks, then: started enlisted and worked up from there. But my father was fond of saying that while he appreciated the presence of his parachute, he never liked the idea of jumping out of 'a plane with two perfectly good wings'.

Thank you for clarifying the terms. And for the poetry.

Jan

UH. Well. My dad dated from the Army Air Corp circa 1930...so it may be an oldish term.

Jan

I find this issue to be interesting but a bit puzzling. You cannot stop people from disagreeing, disputing, evolving. The Catholic Church cannot stop declared Catholics from taking birth control. How does anyone say, with a straight face, the sentence, "You are all a bunch of strong-minded free thinkers and I forbid you to come up with new ideas. If you do so, I will say Right Out Loud that you may not call yourself an Objectivist or take the name of the Rand in vain."

No one has the ability to do this.

Jan

I jumped right on the link!

Thank you for the correction.

Jan

Actually, according to your logic, they may be defeated by the truth. (You have described the characteristics of 'one army' (the one who is unarmed of truth, hence an army of lies) but not the character of the other army (which therefore could be armed with either truth or with even stronger lies).

Jan

Wow. That swings too far the other way for me. My point is aimed at 'job descriptions' not 'armies' - the Chaplains and Medics are good examples of roles that can be filled by someone with a religious/philosophical aversion to combat but who wanted to serve in the military. 'Drone pilot' is the new role for someone who is willing to be in combat but who cannot physically do so, such as an elderly person or someone who is young but physically handicapped.

The state guards being unarmed is just bizarre. I would not want to be a part of a group that had me playing a role for which carrying arms were appropriate (eg dealing with civil unrest) but which forbade me from carrying them.

It would be interesting to see what would happen to the makeup of the military if the age and 4F rules were deleted and those people were allowed to volunteer.

Jan

From what Mamaemma indicates, it was illegal to change the minutes to conceal an illegal act...at some point, they just stopped caring.

I guess that this is what the internet is for. If it had just happened, one could Out Them.

Jan

Yeah. They call them Mustangs now. Do you know when that label changed?

Jan, puzzled and interested

Interesting...it has been 40 years since I have last read Stranger. Let me see what it costs on Kindle...

Jan