3754 Extraneous thoughts

Friday, July 26, 2013

"If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?"

--Harry Shearer--

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There's a bird out back I don't remember ever hearing before.  It's in a tree, and I can't see it, but it says, "TutaTWEE tutaTWEE tutaTWEE breaker breaker.  TutaTWEE tutaTWEE tutaTWEE breaker breaker breaker breaker."  It's quite pleasant.  Any idea what it might be?

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Ethics become a luxury as the demands of our daily lives increase.

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I still subscribe to the Rhinebeck Village announcements and news blog.  I don't know why, because I can't attend any of the events any more, but I can't stop, either, because it's so often unintentionally amusing.  Sometimes I wonder if the editor reads the submissions before posting them.

Like the day the headline/title of the post was "The Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center is proud to welcome Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals"  Within a few hours that was changed to a program about.

Another one was "2013 marks the anniversary of the American Civil War".  Gee.  I thought that happened every year.

The other day the title was "Rhinebeck village upgrade to the waste water treatment plant".  That's not so bad, except my immediate thought was, "And that's better than the water from the village well?"  (Yes, the villages and small towns up there have wells.)

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Something to think about:
“The notion that because the Voting Rights Act had been so tremendously effective we had to stop it didn’t
make any sense to me,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told the Associated Press.

Yep, some folks want to repeal it because it safeguards everyone's right to vote.  Can't have that, now, can we?  Not if we want to win elections....

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Yahoo "news" is worthless nonsense.  A while ago they had a long story theorizing about why dogs turn around before lying down to sleep.  The "reporter" threw out several theories, including stuff like "to make the ground softer", but completely missed the real one.  I though everyone knew this:  Dogs turn around before lying down because who wants to lie down on spiders, bugs, or grass snakes?

Pretty much the same reason why I open up the bed at the country house and sweep it out before crawling in if I haven't been there  for a while.

Sheesh.
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3753 Making stuff

Thursday, July 25, 2013

God says, "Take what you want ... and pay for it." 

-- via a Stephen King character --

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Last week  the Nugget and I made cookies.  Oatmeal chocolate chip.  Small lesson learned - leave the warm chocolate chips for when she's a little older.  Messy!  But yummy.

Today we made ice cream.  Well, technically ice milk, but it was good anyway. 

• Fill a large ziplock bag with ice cubes, and add a lot of salt.
• Fill a small ziplock bag with milk and zip it tight.  We used vanilla-flavored milk, which is already sweetened.  You can use chocolate, or you can chop up some fruit in it.  Whatever sounds good.
• Put the small bag inside the big bag and zip it up tight.
• Wrap the bags in a dishtowel, and put gloves on your little helper.
• Shake the bag, a lot.  Squish it sometimes. The kid will probably get tired, but as long as she can do the first few and the final few shakes, she'll be satisfied that she! made the ice cream.
• Check occasionally to see if it's thickened yet.
• When you take the small bag out, be sure to dry it before opening it, so you don't get salt in the ice cream.
• Dump into a bowl and enjoy.

Nugget's comment, "Too cold.  Put in mike-o-wabe, Amma."
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3752 Damsels...

Monday, July 22, 2013

"The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said."

--Peter Drucker--

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I've bought a new laptop, and am trying to clean out my documents folder on the old, preparing to transfer to the new.  Sometime back in 2009 I found this little gem and tucked it away.  I don't know where it came from, and Google isn't finding it now, but here it is for your enlightenment before I erase it.  (I wonder why she can't find a job....)

I am no stranger in going to job interview and looking HR people in there eye. I been looking for work for over 15 months in Florida and I am retired military. As far as I can see is that the HR people have a limit who they can put on the hireing status. I dont have no special talent or any college degree but I must say I did put my life on the line for this country and the the thanks I get is we get in touch with you or we call you,why they just tell the truth and say WE ARE NOT GOING TO HIRE YOU AND QUICK THE BULLSHIT.I been threw to alot of shit in my military career and never had such a hard time with a higher ranking personnal telling me NO.

I have seen interviewers that have very gross manner they smell like cigarrets and blow their nose just in from of you. They have a coffee cup and a pet in their office.
I am well dress and with perfume and the first impression that I get is disrespect. The HR official feels like a god with his arrogant manners, let us face it I am one of the reasons he is behind that sit. Therefore, show me some respect if I reserve it. You do your job and I try to do my best as a begginer.

What I hate about interview's is the stupid questions that they ask you that dont pertain to the job. Like why did you chose our company to come to work. what can you bring this company. how do you answer questions like this?

I in my experience over many years I believe more than we like to think HR personal are to often power hungry. It is to often the HR people who are keeping the good people out and why most companies in America are doing so badly and don't have good workers. The hiring or advancement of management and their management stiles I have seen become a big issue over the last fifteen years as well. POWER, and the title does not always pay what you would think.

Yes, it was 100% serious.  Sigh.

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I keep the trays under my outside potted plants full of water, especially in this heat.  That annoys Daughter because she thinks mosquitoes breed in them, but I do check, and I don't see wrigglers in there.  If I did, I'd just add olive oil.

Maybe it's because my yard is full of damselflies.  They eat mosquitoes.  You see them flitting from grass blade to grass blade all over the yard.  There's an occasional dragonfly, but not in the same quantity as the damselflies.
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