Link of the Day [12.22.08]

broderic on December 22, 2008

Choices made by business leaders yesterday affects what is happening today. These leaders only see the present and the near future, but don’t imagine anything long term. They do craft business plans for that but honestly does it make sense that ten, fifteen, twenty years these plans all go exceedingly well? Probably not, so they innovate to make things work out. Yet, that innovation is only helpful for the present, and like a butterfly flapping its wings in China, you can never predict the repercussions of innovation will spread.

The pension plan was meant to ensure that the workers of a company was guaranteed a level of income well he retired. Health plans were also provided by the business leaders. These benefits to the worker were meant to stave of some form of social care and socialism by the government. It forced the business to be the ones granting workers benefits. The business leaders smiled because it weakened the worker’s leverage. They are now dependent on the benevolence of the business leader who can hire or fire your and provide the benefits.

Yet, these obligations are too generous, and the business leader doesn’t want to spend money on them. It makes them unprofitable.

Years ago, the Democratic president wanted to provide universal health care to the US. It was business leaders who didn’t want to push for it. “We will end up losing money to ne’er do wells who don’t work for us,” they reasoned. Now they are coming to the government because they can’t afford paying obligations that could’ve been ameliorated by universal health care. Couldn’t these business leaders foresee that the obligations would’ve been spread around to every business and that their costs would’ve come down? Could they not see that having the burden of paying health care costs is making them uncompetitive with foreign companies who have their workers subsidized by government providing benefits? Are these business leaders smart?

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/08/28/060828fa_fact

Link of the Day [12.20.08]

broderic on December 20, 2008

I like winter more than I like spring. I love autumn most, but that’s for another post. Check the archives.

When the days get shorter and the nights get longer, it feels natural. The quality of the light also is comforting. When the days get longer and the nights shorter, it is discomforting, and the quality of light is artificial.

From here on out, it will be an unnerving day to day existence until the awesomeness of summer.

http://www.knowth.com/newgrange.htm

Link of the Day [12.19.08]

broderic on December 19, 2008

I don't know if I had already wrote about this experience, but it's
amusing enough to generate two posts about, if I did.Awhile back, I was getting out of Itsuki-chan in the parking lot of
HomeDepot. A middle aged lady was driving by and she was rolling down
her window."Where do you plug that in?""Excuse, me?""Where do you plug that in electric car in?""Oh. Sorry. It's just a normal car." A regular combustible gas
engine, but fun all the same. She had mistaken my car as one of those
fancy electric cars. Perhaps she's never seen a Mini Cooper. They are
rather rare in the area, and they do not look like other cars. In the US, mini's have plain old gas-guzzling engines, not that they are
gas-guzzling, but they run on plain old unleaded. In other countries,
there's a diesel version. Now, they're constructing an electric mini
which is interesting. Perhaps if there's enough interest, you can buy
one of these in the near future.http://www.miniusa.com/minie-usa/

Link of the Day [12.18.08]

broderic on December 18, 2008

To watch Wall St. come crashing down is very fascinating. It makes you
angry and sick thinking about it all. The more you think about it, the
more "the market" seems to be a big scam. It's greed I tell you. There
is no higher goal within "the market." It's just to make money for
myself, and if you so happen to make money with me, then good for you,
but I can't care if you do or not.While I understand that "the market" gives us jobs and makes the world
churn, I hate it for how indescriminate it is. There is no hard work
there. It's plain luck and who-you-know that'll make you money. You
bring to "the market" your sense of morals and it will reward you with
what it sees fit. It's too bad that those who choose the life of
working "the market" are unscrupulous bastards.http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/

Link of the Day [12.17.08]

broderic on December 17, 2008

Lots of memories about going to the library when I was younger. Picked up my reading habits there: books on ghosts and haunted houses, lots of serial comic strips — Peanuts, Dennis the Menace, Marmaduke, and choose your adventure stories.

Those choose your adventure stories were the dumbest because I only got four pages before dying. And I would always die by some cave in or falling off a cliff or perhaps being killed by the basilisk. Yes, it was that stupid.

Today’s link is for you to craft your own adventure. Choose your choice or make a new selection. Just go have fun.

http://makeyourownadventure.ning.com/

(ht Marge at the fishtank)

Link of the Day [12.16.08]

broderic on December 16, 2008

I’m sitting at home waiting for the right time to head on over to the post office to pick up a package. I wish they would open at 8 am rather than a half hour later. I have to stay at work later than I would want to just because of the opening time.

In this day and age, the US postal service is a throwback to earlier times when letters were all important. Now, it’s just email, text, or IM. When will it be e-packages, text-packages, or IM-packages? Send my figures to my 3D printer so that I don’t have to wait so long.

Anywhoo, with the holiday coming up (9 days of shopping left), you better mail out those packages if you need them to get to their destination before Christmas morn.

http://www.usps.com/