The Free Market Doesn't Work for Health Care

Yet another example of how health care is not one of the things that benefits from the "free market"

Penny Wise Dollar Foolish

While I appreciate frugality, I can't help but feel sad for people who are so focused on every single dollar that it seems to run their lives. I still know lots of people who fairly well off but live everyday and do everything with the sole focus of how it affects their bottom line taking, second jobs and rarely spending any money on anything fun and if they do the time is mostly figuring the cost of every second of enjoyment.
Now I appreciate the importance of saving and living within one's means but I think the danger comes about when become obsessed with it. This post at Getting Rich Slowly kind of actually saddens me a bit. I know people who enter "the paper chase" and it becomes a sad obsession for them. It start's innocently enough and at first is commendable, but it gets to the point where it is never enough and every action of the day is focused on pennies and dimes. These people end up being miserly and the worst kind of friends to have, because eventually even your friendship comes down the finical cost to them.
To people who start down this path I recommend "Die Broke" it will help to realize the utility of money and will hopefully stop you from being obsessed with it.

Remember earn money to live, don't live to earn money.

I'd mention something about the people obsessed without every using credit cards or having any debt what so ever but I'll save that for a later post.

Payback is a Mother Fucker

Reading today on CNN about a Republican bitching about not having input into bill reminds me of the bull shit the Republicans have been doing for years.

From a Rolling Stone article:
"I remember one incident very clearly -- I think it was 2001," says Winslow Wheeler, who served for twenty-two years as a Republican staffer in the Senate. "I was working for [New Mexico Republican] Pete Domenici at the time. We were in a Budget Committee hearing and the Democrats were debating what the final result would be. And my boss gets up and he says, 'Why are you saying this? You're not even going to be in the room when the decisions are made.' Just said it right out in the open."

From CNN:
Such protests got little sympathy from Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wisconsin, who noted Republicans last year had failed to pass nine of 11 spending bills.
"You forfeited any right to squawk about how we cleaned up your mess," Obey said. "Don't blame us for your screw-ups."

From me:
Like I said payback is a mother fucker.
I really suggest you read the Rolling Stone article as the example I picked is just one of many.

Do Your Job

This is an actual email that I received and my response, some names have been removed solely because I'm a nice guy. Though I really need to add to my resume (don't worry co-workers I'm not looking for a job this is just a great source of entertainment for me) something about half assed recruiting attempts will be met with sarcasm.

Dear VT,

I am writing to let you know that you have contacted me via a Job Portal. In order for this to go further please follow the directions below for a face-to-face meeting after going through the following details.

1. Your unique employer information number 3241231 Please use this number in all future correspondence with me.

2. Your reporting time at the local coffee shop will be 6:30PM(LOCAL TIME) Please send me back a couple of other times if this won't work for you.

3. Please read my resume, this will catch you up on background information, and have a list of jobs that are appropriate for me.

4. To confirm that you want to move forward with this please send me an email with a picture of a kitten. This assures that this is not some automated non-sense or just a mass mailing to Monster users from a recruiter who simply searched on a key word and sent this to everyone that matched.

5. Please send me a list of the current salaries of the team that I will be working with, including W2s.

6. Please make sure you bring money for you own coffee as this will not be covered by me, $3 should be sufficient. If you don't bring money you'll have to pan handle for change to pay for it.

7. Please note that 90% of the time I work from my living room, if this causes a problem please highlight this.

8. Please look for an email that has the title JUMPING_THROUGH_HOOPS: 3241231 in next few days.

9. If anything about your company has changed recently please update your website then send the links with the changed pages.

10. If you would like to withdraw from this process at anytime please let me know by sending an email with a picture of a dog attached.

I look forward to hearing from you and wonder if you think what I'm asking you to do any more ridiculous than what you have sent me?

later,
dan

On Jan 29, 2007, at 8:17 AM, VT wrote:

Dear DC Dan,



We are writing to you with regard to the CV sourced by us from a Job Portal/ your application to us for employment. We would like to bring to your notice that we are organizing recruitment events across different centres in USA to fill variousJob Openings (https://[COMPANYNAME].com/Jobs_USA.asp) with [COMPANYNAME] in the USA. You can view the Recruitment Calendar (https://[COMPANYNAME].com//recruitmentcalendar.asp) to obtain details of the venues/dates for these events. Please let us know if it would be convenient for you to meet us for a face-to-face discussion after going through the below mentioned details.



1. Your unique Candidate Identification Number with [COMPANYNAME] is 2453971Please quote this reference number in all future correspondence with us.

2. Your reporting time for this appointment is 03:00PM(LOCAL TIME) In case it’s inconvenient for you to participate at this suggested time, please get back to us with 2-3 alternate time slots (between 9 am & 5 pm local time) that are convenient for you. Please plan to spend approximately 90 to 120 minutes for the whole process.

3. The objective of this meeting is to evaluate your background and explore possible roles with [COMPANYNAME]. If you have specific queries on the opportunities for which you are considered, the HR personnel at the venue would be able to help you.

4. To confirm participation please reply to this e-mail by prefixing the subject line with “CONFIRMED–EventCode-Candidate_Identification_Number”. For example “CONFIRMED–NC03MAR-2453971” Please send your confirmationsAtleast 3 days prior to the recruitment event date. You can obtain the EventCode from the Recruitment Calendarevents.

5. Please download a set of documents (Employment Application, Release Authorization, disclosure to Employment Applicant) from https://[COMPANYNAME].com/EmploymentForms_USA.zip that are required to be filled. Once filled, please submit these to us by faxing to +1-831-555-1212 along with a copy of the recent pay stub prior to attending the face-to-face discussion. Please also carry the originals of all these documents and also your latest CVwhen you come for this meeting.

6. If you are travelling from a different location, please be informed that we will not be able to reimburse any claim for travel expenses; without a prior Tele-interview done.

7. Please note that location of posting could be at any of the [COMPANYNAME] offices in the USA. If you have any constraint on the location of posting, we expect you to highlight to us before you come for a face-to-face discussion.

8. In the event it is inconvenient for you to take part in a face-to-face discussion in the near future, we can consider you for a Tele-interview on most of the days. For requesting the same, please reply to this mail (prefix “TELEINTERVIEW:2453971” in the subject line) indicating 3 choices of interview dates. Your choice of dates should start from the 5th business day from the date of your response. Also ensure that a convenient time (morning/day/evening/any) is specified which will help me fix a mutually convenient schedule with the interviewer.

9. In case there are any changes in your profile since the time you applied, we request you to send us your updated CV in the Profile Snapshot template while requesting the Tele-interview.

10. In the event you are temporarily not looking for any employment opportunities, may we still request you to reply to this email with subject-line “Withdraw Application:2453971” so that we will suspend processing your application.



We look forward hearing from you soon.



Thanks and Regards,

VT
Team Recruitment
[COMPANYNAME] , Bangalore|Electronics city| India |080–5551212| Extn: 555|
_______________________________________________________________________
Determination is the wake-up call to the human will.






This e-mail contains PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION intended solely for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by e-mail and delete the original message. Further, you are not to copy, disclose, or distribute this e-mail or its contents to any other person and any such actions are unlawful.

PS: You may refer http://maps.google.com for driving directions to this location.





**************** CAUTION - Disclaimer *****************
This e-mail contains PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION intended solely for the use of the addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender by e-mail and delete the original message. Further, you are not to copy, disclose, or distribute this e-mail or its contents to any other person and any such actions are unlawful. This e-mail may contain viruses. [COMPANYNAME] has taken every reasonable precaution to minimize this risk, but is not liable for any damage you may sustain as a result of any virus in this e-mail. You should carry out your own virus checks before opening the e-mail or attachment. [COMPANYNAME] reserves the right to monitor and review the content of all messages sent to or from this e-mail address. Messages sent to or from this e-mail address may be stored on the [COMPANYNAME] e-mail system.
***[COMPANYNAME]******** End of Disclaimer ********COMPANYNAME***

On the Way to NYC

On the Way to NYC
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

I'm wrecking shop in NYC this weekend



---- 
Sent via phone

Why No Self Respecting Woman Should Buy into Religion

If we ever achieve a civilization of true equity, respect, and love between the sexes, it will not be because we paid more attention to our holy books.


Sam Harris weighs on religious beliefs and women the scariest part is there are women who accept and promote this non-sense learn more about the religious subjugation of women

I leave with a song that seems apropos

Can We Let States Like This Cede?

North Dakota is trying to out do South Dakota as the bastion of stupidity. I say this not because they have an arcane law on their books that makes living together with a member of the opposite sex a crime, lot of states have crazy laws that haven't made if off the books yet. No, North Dakota goes one step beyond and has people that defend it.

North Dakota you win award of the "State of the Month that DC Dan Wouldn't Live In"

Strange Dream

I had a strange dream last night where I lived in big condo complex that had a pool and a game room. The game room, on a Saturday night no less, was filled with young couples playing video games on systems setup for four players. The thing is all of the systems were pretty old I saw a bunch of N-64s and Dreamcasts. Not sure what all of means.

Remember When?

Hi-Fi Set Up
Originally uploaded by dcdan.

Do you remember when light pens were the input device of the future. (not related to The Ice Cream of the Future)

I had one for my C64, I'm willing to bet actually too that my dad still has it alongside the stack of C64s some where in his basement.

The included photo reminds me of the fact that I'll beat anyone at NHL'93 on the Genesis.

There Once was an Old Man

There once was an old man sitting on a bench on the Mall in DC, crumpling up news papers and throwing them over shoulder. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm keeping the wild elephants away." I said "Sir there aren't any wild elephants on this side of the planet." He replied "See how well it works!"

This story about protecting from virtually non-existent threats was brought to you by the war profiteers featured on CNN today in this post Commercial jet flies with anti-missile system

A Kilo is 1000 Grams That's Easy to Remember*

Mbps vs MBps vs kbps KB/s vs whatever all I have to say is leave it to the computer industry to make even the simplicity of the metric system overly complex.


*From Ghostface's latest album "Fishscale"

It's 2007

It's 2007 people, stop using your printers and for the love of god* please stop dealing in faxes.
Say it with me until it sticks
PDF and email.
PDF and email.
PDF and email.
PDF and email.
PDF and email.
PDF and email.
PDF and email.
PDF and email.



*funny coming from me I know.

iPhone

The iPhone will not be popular with people who are missing all of their fingers or can't use their fingers reliably Stephen Hawking won't have one.

On the Sadaam Hanging Video

I think it should be mandatory viewing for anyone who supports the death penalty, in fact all executions should be available for the public to view, I think it would change a lot of minds about how executions happen and what it means to end someone's life.

Receivers

I wish a company would make a high end receiver that made sense. You have a choice a lower end one that doesn't have DVI or HDMI inputs or ridiculous one that has a few HDMI inputs but about 10 composite, not component, composite inputs which if you at that level of home theater you aren't going to use except for maybe one thing.
These are the features I'd like to see.
3 HDMI inputs and 2 DVI inputs
1 DVI out 1 HDMI out
2 composite inputs one on the front and one on the back.
Digital Audio with 3 optical inputs and 2 coax
Of course it will support all of the fancy sound formats and allow you to tweak for distance, speaker size and crossover frequencies, but I don't need any of the simulated sound, does anyone actually use the stadium or jazz club mode?

Does anyone make something just like this? If so please let me know

Two Upsetting Pieces of News

Just like in back in the USSR your mail can be open by the government here in the USA without a warrant
Additionally, the system of corruption has been going on for a while as when you look over the FBI Files of over 30 years ago you see the same people abusing the powers of the executive branch STILL.

Madam Speaker you started your new job today and it look like you have a lot of work a head of you.
Good night and good luck.