| Wednesday, January
31, 2001
Niven was over yesterday. good hike. We have some good work done with
Burning Tower. I'll try to do more today since it's coming up on column
time.
And I have been sent a story about strip searches of 8 year olds
because a classmate was missing, or said she was missing, $20.
"Within school policy" said the administrators. It may have
been, but I suspect I would find a better school for my kids. If that's
necessary the school has an unhealthy population. It it's not necessary it
has unhealthy administrators. Of course those are not mutually exclusive.
MANY people recommend abe books http://www.abebooks.com/
as THE place to go looking for used books. I have found it very useful.
From Jim Warren:
A magazine in the US was looking for readers to submit quotes from
their real life Dilbert-type managers. Here are the finalists:
1. "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the
building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next
Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." (This
was the winning quote from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corp. in Redmond, WA.)
2. "What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will
encounter." (Lykes Lines Shipping)
3. "E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It
should be used only for company business." (Accounting manager,
Electric Boat Company)
11. We recently received a memo from senior management saying:
"This is to inform you that a memo will be issued today regarding the
memo mentioned above." (Microsoft, Legal Affairs Division)
12. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him
concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be
soon enough. He said, "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited
until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New business manager, Hallmark
Greeting Cards.)
13. As director of communications, I was asked to prepare a memo
reviewing our company's training programs and materials. In the body of
the memo, in one of the sentences, I praised the "pedagogical
approach" used by one of the training manuals. The day after I routed
the memo to the executive committee, I was called into the HR director's
office, and told that the executive vice president wanted me out of the
building by lunch. When I asked why, I was told that she wouldn't stand
for perverts (pedophiles?) working in her company. Finally, he showed me
her copy of the memo, with her demand that I be fired - and the word
"pedagogical" circled in red. The HR manager was fairly
reasonable, and once he looked the word up in his dictionary and made a
copy of the definition to send back to her, he told me not to worry; he
would take care of it. Two days later, a memo to the entire staff came out
directing us that no words which could not be found in the local Sunday
newspaper could be used in company memos. A month later, I resigned. In
accordance with company policy, I created my resignation memo by pasting
words together from the Sunday paper. (Taco Bell Corporation)
AND it is clearly time to send another LETTER TO SUBSCRIBERS, but I am
running low low low on time resources, and the column time is coming up.
At least I am getting Burning Tower going.
Futility
Squared: try to talk to Pacific Bell Business. Just try.
I would sure love to have the old arrogant AT&;T back. Attempts to
even find someone to TALK to at Pacific Bell about a T1 line have cost me
hours, and I GET NO ONE. I get transferred to a dead telephone. Every
time. There are some lackwits who answer after you get the automatic tree,
pay no attention when you point out that you've been put on hold forever
before, transfer you again, then a long long time with a dead telephone
and nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Does anyone know a way to do this (T1) with SPRINT? Or anything
else? Pacific Bell seems to be managed by Dilbert managers, which, come to
think of it... When I first wanted ISDN here I ended up talking to
Scott Adams at Pacific Bell. He seemed to be the only person in the
company that understood it. Now I am getting the same thing. What is
WITH this company? Do they have ANYONE who can talk about a T1
line? If so I have been unable to find that person.
Eventually I have tried to go to Pacific Bell Voice Mail. That TAKES
THREE MINUTES and a salesman voice enthusiastically tells you that he is
sure sorry to have missed you! My Lord, this is a monopoly that
REALLY needs attention from the authorities. Dilbert's point haired
manager is clearly in charge. Ye godS!!!
An interesting editorial by Tony Blankley (whom I knew when I was a
science advisor to Newt Gingrich back when Newt was Minority Whip):
The correct URL for the Blankley piece in today's Washington Times is:
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/ed-column-2001131164030.htm
Jim Ransom
First sent by Jim Ransom.
And an interesting case of "balanced reporting":
The idea of Sunday's live, "videobridge" was to promote dialogue
between the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos and
its self-appointed nemesis, the World Social Forum meeting in Porto
Alegre, Brazil.
What happened was quite the opposite, confounding organizers' hopes
to launch at the Porto Alegre meeting of 10,000 activists a serious,
alternative economic platform to unfettered global capitalism.
The debate turned into an insult match, with radicals in Porto Alegre
calling George Soros "a hypocrite" and "a monster," and the Hungarian
financier bluntly telling Africans that much of the blame for their
misery lies with their continent's corrupt governments.
An insult match. Of course kleptocracy can't possibly be part of the
problem. Government corruption isn't important, and you are a monster to
say so. Balanced reporting: "trading insults".
Ah well.
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