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Greetings, Quotaholics:
Jobs
are hard to come by these days. Employers have their pick from many
applicants. Applicants have to do whatever it takes to be considered.
In
Bozeman, Montana, people who apply for jobs with the city are being
asked to provide personal information that is raising concerns over
privacy.
In an article at montanasnewsstation.com,
it was reported that part of the job application stated “Please
list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or
memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums,
to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com,
MySpace, etc.,’”.
“There are then three lines where applicants can list the Web
sites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords.”
“The requirement is included on a waiver statement applicants
must sign, giving the City permission to conduct an investigation into
the person’s ‘background, references, character, past employment,
education, credit history, criminal or police records.”’
In defending the policy city attorney Greg Sullivan said, “So,
we have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people
of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards
and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations
to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character
and are a good fit for the City.”
One of the concerns raised by this policy is the fact that by giving
someone your login and password to Facebook you are also giving that
person access to all your friends pages.
But in this economy people need jobs badly enough to go along with whatever
is requested. The article concludes with “No one has ever removed
his or her name from consideration for a job due to the request, Sullivan
added.”
Now I can understand an employer wanting to make sure that an employee
or applicant doesn’t do anything to embarrass the employer. But
is asking for login and password information going to far?
If someone was a member of some sort of embarrassing website, is it
likely that they would reveal it on an application? What if the city
discovered that you had omitted a website? Isn’t it likely that
there are sites where you have created a membership and have since forgotten?
If you really needed a job would you give out your login and password
information if it was required?
After this article came out, I understand that the city is reviewing
it’s application in order to address the privacy concerns. That’s
good, but do you think the city went too far in the first place?
Privately,
Comment
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"If you cannot convince them, confuse them." - Harry S Truman
"Human beings have
an inalienable right to invent themselves; when that right is pre-empted
it is called brain-washing." - Germaine Greer
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Penny
For Your Thoughts
[Thanks Bonnie]
A Scottish lad and
lass were sitting together on a heathery hill in the Highlands. They
had been silent for a while, when the lass said, “A penny for your
thoughts.”
The lad was a bit abashed, but he finally said, “Well, I was thinkin’
how nice it would be if ye’d give me a wee bit of a kiss.”
So she did so.
But he again lapsed into a pensive mood which lasted long enough for
the lass to ask him, “What are ye thinkin’ now?”
To which the lad grumbled, “Well, I was hopin’ ye hadn’t forgot the
penny!”
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"A specialist is a man who knows more and more about less and less."
"Given one well-trained
physician of the highest type he will do better work for a thousand
people than ten specialists."
"Lord, deliver me from
the man who never makes a mistake, and also from the man who makes the
same mistake twice." - all from William J. Mayo, born on this day
1861
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Well, once again I’m on my soap box. What has me there? You ask. Well,
let me enlighten you.
As many of you know I’m a disabled person, that is to say that I’m blind
and I live for the time being on a disability check. My boyfriend is in
the same situation. He and I have thought about being married many times,
however we can not be due to a law in our country. The law states that
two disabled persons can not be married unless one of them either gives
up half or all of their check. This wouldn’t be a problem for either of
us if we could find good paying jobs. However in the area that we live
in, the good paying jobs are not accessible to us. He has a young son,
and for us to lose our income would make it impossible to raise him correctly.
Now, the real problem with this is this. If you live together as a couple
in this country, with out even being married and you have children, you
have at your disposal lots of help. You can draw not only food stamps,
but a check called AFDC (Aid for families with dependent children.) You
do not even have to work as long as you document that you’re looking for
work, or take a certain amount of classes.
Now, this wouldn’t bother me, except for one thing. These laws for those
who live together with out being married do not apply to those of us who
are disabled. We can’t even shack up, and keep our stable income. We must
live apart, or get married, and lose our stable income. I do not think
this law is fair, and I believe that it should be changed so that the
same laws apply to all.
Are there any other disabled persons out there in this same situation?
Do those of you who are not disabled think this law is fair?
Signed, Tazz On Her Soap Box Again!
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Fire
Ready… Aim… No, that isn’t it.
The "four basic elements" are air, water, earth, and fire.
Neither are actually a true element, but, instead, are composed of
a conglomeration of true elements. However, as basic things go, air,
water, earth, and fire are as basic as they come.
We need the earth to stand on. We need water and air to sustain us.
Second to earth, fire is a tool for us. We make things out of earth
elements. Just look around and you see it. However, the use of fire
asa a tool is less obvious.
Of course we use fire, or a form thereof, to cook our food. Heating
vegetables and meat makes it more palatable. Seasonings not withstanding,
most meat-eaters agree that a hunk of meat tastes better when cooked
on a grill than simply heated in an oven. Some even prefer cooking
over an open wood fire for the taste it provides. What early humanoids
didn’t know directly was that this process was killing bacteria and
overcoming toxins so the food itself wouldn’t kill them.
Fire, or it’s derivatives, have opened a lot of doors for us. Imagine
a coffee bean. Uncooked, it is too hard and fibrous to be edible.
Even boiled, it is neither tasty nor is it’s texture pleasing. Trust
me, I’ve tried it. Someone, either accidentally or purposely, divined
that roasting that same bean made it usable and tasty. I’m sure ancient
humans found toasted, charred, and baked vegetation, and maybe animals,
in the remnants of naturally occurring forest fires. Taste testing
led to common knowledge. Eventually, taming the flame allowed our
ancestors to duplicate what they found as hunter-gatherers.
Fires occur naturally when lightning strikes ignite dry grasses or
timber. We call out the troops when this happens and we fight these
fires, throwing all our resources and technology at it until we quench
them entirely. However, there are many plants that need fire in order
to reproduce. Some coniferous trees need fire to char it’s cones in
order to release it’s seeds. Other seeds need their enveloping layers
to be burned off for the zygote inside to germinate.
Here’s your quiz:
Do you cook on an open flame of any source?
Do you find grilled food to be tastier?
Does a flaming fireplace or bonfire mesmerize you?
What creative way do you use fire?
Fire - Not Just What You Do To Unwanted Employees
Cliff (the High-Tech
Redneck who doesn’t rate a fancy ’signature pic’) 
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Email Kirsten
“Boy,
n.: a noise with dirt on it.”
~ Not Your Average Dictionary ~
People tend to assume that because I’m from Africa, I know everything
about the behaviour of wild animals. I’ll get questions like, “Hey,
you’re from Africa. How does a pride of lions choose its leader? How
does the mating ritual of zebras work? Do elephants really bury their
dead?” I don’t know the answers to all of these questions. “Being
from Africa” is not synonymous with “being a wildlife expert”.
One thing I do know about wild animals, though, is that they practice
natural selection. A herd only moves as fast as its weakest member,
and this can be an issue if you’re an antelope and your herd is being
chased by a hungry lion. In a situation like this, the herd aren’t
going to waste time actually killing their weak member, but they will
simply leave him behind. That way, the lion will get to that member
and devour it, allowing time for the rest of the herd to get away.
If there is a fight between two antelopes, the stronger one will always
win, while the weaker one may not even survive. Strong members of
the herd will frequently seek out the weaker members and pick on them.
This is how the herd gets stronger and ultimately survives.
I have discovered that kids do the same thing, but with a little more
planning. Their target is always Mom, but they bide their time. They
will wait patiently, sometimes for weeks, until Mom is having a bad
day. As soon as Mom is feeling sick, or is particularly exhausted
or emotionally overwhelmed, they will strike. In pairs. Siblings that
usually hit each other over the head with Lego will display an extraordinarily
united front if it means there is an opportunity to pick on their
mother.
My kids have had the perfect opportunity to target me over the last
week. It all started on Tuesday when I went for a run. The run itself
was great. I went fast, I felt strong, and I had a great time. It
was close to being a perfect run. Ten minutes after I finished running,
though, I sprouted a nasty headache. I put it down to dehydration,
took a couple of Tylenols and downed about a litre of water. Sure
enough, the headache disappeared. Half an hour later, though, my throat
suddenly started to hurt. A lot.
The following day, my throat felt like it was on fire. I couldn’t
eat because it was too painful to swallow. I stocked up on lozenges
and for two days I tried to avoid talking to anyone. By Thursday night
I had a full-on cold and was feeling exhausted and a little feverish.
That evening, my husband left for a ten-day-long business trip to
Indiana. That’s the night the kids struck.
Pure genius, when you think of it. They waited until their Mom was
exhausted, ill, and without any form of spousal backup. I went to
bed, hoping for a good night’s sleep. This plan worked until about
three in the morning, when I woke up to find myself wedged in by my
sons. In an ideal world, I would have been able to just go back to
sleep. However, nature was calling somewhat insistently, so I got
up very slowly and carefully, making sure not to wake anyone. I did
what I needed to do, and when I went back to bed I found my older
son sitting up playing with one of his many Mr. Potato Heads. To be
exact, it was Indiana Jones Taters of the Lost Ark. The one that plays
the Indiana Jones theme when you press down on the hat.
Despite my best efforts to persuade my son to go back to sleep, I
was forced to lie awake listening to the Indiana Jones theme from
three in the morning until six thirty, when it was time for me to
get up. At about five in the morning, my younger son started singing
along. The two boys proved once again the resilience of youth by bouncing
right into their day, full of energy. By the time I arrived at work,
I was feeling, to borrow a phrase from a book, as rough as a badger’s
arse.
Friday night was not a lot better. I went to bed early, grateful that
I at least didn’t have to drag myself to work the following day. Throughout
the night, the boys took turns waking up. They finally fell into a
deep sleep at about four in the morning, and I drifted into a fitful
sleep shortly thereafter. By seven on Saturday morning, they were
up and running again. My head was exploding and I was so congested
that my eyes were streaming, and my kids were torturing me with their
energetic demands. I confess that for a few hours, I became one of
those parents that sits on the couch watching TV while the kids run
wild with no discipline. I was just too sick to do anything.
At the time of writing this article, I am feeling this cold finally
start to break. As if they know I am starting to feel better, the
kids no longer feel the need to terrorize me. I guess my days as the
weakest member of the herd are numbered. I might even get a normal
night’s sleep tonight.
Kaleidoscopically yours,
Kirsten
Comment
On This Article
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Write
to Faithy
Faithy’s Freaky
Sites (and free downloads)
Happy
Monday RGQ !!! In order to find fodder for my RGQ masses I use a lot
of tools. I receive several good E-Zines with great links in them,
I review favorite sites for new ideas, I review you-tube, and others
public upload sites and I use Search Engines. Extensively. I have
been a Googleholic ever since I discovered the Beta version back in
(mumble), but as noted recently I think the Corporate Monster ate
the good Bot. So I have been using other engines with more and more
frequency.
I
have even tried the newest attempt – Bing.com. It looks a lot like
Google on it’s side to me, but I do seem to be please with it’s findings
so far. If you care to give it a go, go to:
www.bing.com (at the least it’s a nice
easy type)
There
are also a lot of old standards, all of which I use at times:
www.Yahoo.com – great for kids finds
www.AltaVista.com–
good for govt and educational stuff like its link w/Babelfish too,
which I use all the time.
www.DogPile.com–
Who doesn’t love the sound of that. It is supposed to do a multi-engine
search. I find it a bit slow, but it is Dog On accurate (fittingly
enough)
www.webcrawler.com–
doesn’t make you decide upfront what content you want, video, text,
photo etc. But as the name implies it tends to crawl.
www.lycos.com–
I like this for people content. It brings up “just plain folk” stuff
more than most others. Thus teenagers and bloggers use it a lot.
Then
we have www.ask.com and www.askjeeves.com
neither of which has ever answered my questions with out having to
re-try at least 3 times.
And
as much as I personally dis-like Wickedpedia (or Stupipedia as I call
it) it does have (IMHO) the very very best list of every and all search
engines available. See regular people input IS good for something.
You can find it at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines
OK,
OK one last thing, what could possible shut them all down? All at
once (sorta); it was all the hits they received following Michael
Jackson’ death. Their servers saw the high-traffic as a viral attack,
but only for a minute. Then all was good on the web again.
Just
a note to loyal readers who read and don’t just click: I am in for
a busy busy week, and may not get Wednedays issue to you, I’ll try,
but. . . I will certainly be here for Friday though, as I enjoy sharing
all the great fireworks sites out there.
Searchingly,
 the
Freeloader
With another load of _ _ _ _
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The best part of being me is I get to do what I want. Carol suggested
I do a Dear Tim column occasionally. I haven’t committed to it, but
as I expected, I could squeeze an article out of it.
Kat (formerly
NorCalKat — she moved), says: “Tim. I think this would be a great
addition to the RGQ, that is if you have the time or inclination to
do it. If you do, maybe you could try it on a trial basis subject
to cancellation at anytime? I even have a question I could throw in
if you go ahead with this. Some of us have no resources available
for help, other than online contacts.
Thanks, Kat.
That’s half an article.
Most likely,
it would be kind of like this: Tim, I have a question about Microsoft’s
SteadyState. You said it returns your system to the state it was in
when you first booted it. Does this mean that all programs you loaded
since you bought your computer would be gone? What about your files?
- Mike
Dear Mike.
Thanks for writing
(even though I’m stealing this from comments).
SteadyState
will return your computer to the condition it was in when you last
started it. I haven’t extensively tested it, but I did install a program,
rebooted, and the new program wasn’t there anymore. The programs I
had installed previously were working fine, and all my data was there.
I haven’t tried
creating a document and seeing if it survives, but if SteadyState does
what it should, the document wouldn’t. I have not tested this, but that
is the purpose behind such programs. I don’t want anyone installing
anything on my computer, I don’t want them saving downloads or creating
files. If you want to save something, buy a USB drive.
SteadyState has the option
of saving changes — which you would want to do if you just installed
Windows Updates, for example. But if you somehow got infected, if
your computer is acting funny, anything like that, a reboot reverts
your computer to the working state it was in when you first turned
it on this morning.
Tim a’Musing
Having a Ball being called Dear
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Icings
Always sprinkle toppings on while the icing is fresh, wet and sticky.
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A bunch this time, some catch up’s too.
Next opening line…
It’s Monday, you know what that means…
Hints:
Here’s a great new rhyming/composition tool. http://www.writerhymes.com/
There’s also a great rhyming dictionary at http://www.rhymezone.com/
Limerick rules. http://freespace.virgin.net/merrick.sheldon/limerickrules.htm
Submit
Opening Line
Submit
Limerick
My
boss is a pain you know where……
Yes, I mean the derriere………..
He gripes and he cries………
And lets out long sighs……
When he listens to Sonny and Cher.
(Well…….it rhymes.) - Skeeter |
My
boss is a pain you know where…….
And really I don’t much care……
If he yells and he snorts……..
With his silly retorts…….
And his aching soul he does bare. - Skeeter |
My boss
is a pain you know where…..
Yes…….I mean right back there………
In the seat of ones pants…….
When he hollers and rants……
And says,"Life just isn’t fair". - Skeeter |
My boss
is a pain you know where…..
But usually he’s fair……
Except when he comes to work late……..
After a really bad date…….
With a "blood shot" really weird stare. - Skeeter |
My boss
is a pain you know where—
she has a really steely stare—
but I wonder why
she’s staring at my thighs
as if issuing me some kind of dare. - Cassandra in New York |
My boss
is a pain you know where
Some days I just sit and despair
My work is not up to snuff
He keeps piling on more stuff
All in all, he is quite unfair. - Bonnie |
My boss
is a pain you know where
All he does is sit there and glare
From his glass-fronted office
Counting my coffees
Like a bad-tempered bear in his lair -
Julian, England |
My boss
is a pain you know where
I work hard but he just doesn’t care
He never gives praise
And to ask for a raise
I don’t dare as I haven’t a prayer - Julian,
England |
Our Bonnie
has now run away
So she could deliver eggs today
In the fresh morning dew. . .
It’s an “O” not a “U”?
Hand me my reading glasses, okay? – Anne Onimous |
Our Bonnie
has now run away
Maybe she ran off to see Pompeii,
Or Londonairy,
Mexico City,
Bombay, Taipei, or a French café. – Anne Onimous |
Our Bonnie
has now run away
At least that’s what Mike thought last Friday.
She went to the E.R.
Where – and this is bizarre –
She wrote a limerick anyway. – E. Cole Aye
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To temptation
I’m quick to submit
My rival left out his shaving kit
So I filled it full
With bags and bagsful
Of something I call bull excrement. – E. Cole Aye |
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Re: Michael, Farrah, and Flies
For once I got nothing to say, except yuck! and good job flies! - Tazz
Re: Cliff and Air
There have been so many bad
smells over my life that I can’t begin to name the worst, but my kids
diapers and the cats box has to top the list! My four kids were on soy
formula and had absolutely toxic diapers–especially since my smeller
was far more sensitive back then. (I won’t even mention what their burps
were like!) The cat box currently holds that honor–it even beats my
outdoor trashcan on a warm day. You can guess who gets the honor of
cleaning it every day! It’s been a good thing that age has somewhat
dulled my sense of smell.
Rain or damp weather
makes it so much easier to breathe. I’ve actually had bloody noses when
it gets dry here in the Pacific Northwest. It was really bad in Oklahoma
during the long hot summers and cold dry winters, especially since I’m
allergic to dust.
Every area has a
distinct smell–to me at least. Cities are different from rural areas
as are forests and beaches and deserts. Not necessarily bad–just different.
I love ocean beaches and forests after a rain, the smells are great
even when stinky and the air seems so fresh. - Ruth in Washington
Cliff asked: What is the foulest smell you smelled while breathing?
There are 2 that come immediately to mind, both having to do with chickens.
I think that most teenagers nowadays only think about meat coming from
a store, not actually from the animal itself. I lived in the country
(still do), and had a friend that raised chickens for food. I was visiting
one time that they decided to have fresh chicken. We caught the chickens
(or tried) and her mom killed them. After you chop their heads off,
you take them by the legs and dip them in a vat of boiling water. Then
you get to pluck the feathers. OMG, that is probably the foulest smell
ever!
I live in
Alabama and there are several chicken houses where they raise chickens
for companies like Tyson, etc. On a hot summer day with temperatures
around 100 degrees and humidity around 80-90%, those chickens houses
sure do put off a horrid stench. I am usually driving by so I can hold
my breath long enough to get past them so that I don’t smell them that
much. But then when they use that chicken litter for fertilizer on the
field behind my house, it stinks for days!
Do you find it more difficult or easier to breathe when it’s clear
or stormy?
I think usually it’s easier to breathe when it’s stormy. As I mentioned
before, I live in Alabama. The humidity is pretty high here usually
and when it’s clear it’s almost like breathing water sometimes. The
air smells so much cleaner when it’s stormy. - Michelle in Alabama
Re: Tim’s Help Desk
Tim,
I think this would be a great addition to the RGQ, that is if you have
the time or inclination to do it. If you do, maybe you could try it
on a trial basis subject to cancellation at anytime? I even have a question
I could throw in if you go ahead with this. Some of us have no resources
available for help, other than online contacts.
Hoping you say yes! - Kat (previously known as NorCalKat but since I’ve
moved I need a new moniker)
It would be great if Tim would take questions–though I love the stories
of his school life and his Piffy (?). Frankly, right now I’d be willing
to give him cold hard cash to help with my computer. Something happened
and either the power source died or we got a virus in spite of all the
things I have to stop that. It keeps saying it’s going to dump the core
memory when we start it up. Did I back up regularly, sort of? Of course
it happened before I could do it this time. All our files, programs,
bookmarks, etc. are on the hard drive. There’s no excuse for it since
I do know better, thanks to Tim. I’m using my husband’s laptop, but
it doesn’t have everything I want. We will have to build a new one–but
the car is getting priority at the moment since he needs to work to
support our food and shelter habit! - Ruth in Washington
Re: Gasoline Prices
Bob of the North, while I could comment on several of your points I
will cut to the chase and focus on the key phrase – “avoid climate change.”
Why, oh
why, would we want to do that? The climate is supposed to change. The
climate NOT changing would be unnatural.
Next thing
you know, you’ll try to tell us that carbon dioxide is a pollutant,
or something equally irrational. - Tammy in Alabama (planning to sit
in her Jeep for an hour at lunch with the engine running and the A/C
cranking out some cold air while I read a book)
Bob of the North thinks European petroleum taxes are too low.
It would
be nice if he’d told us what he means by “oil is too valuable and dangerous
to spend on cars” (précised).
I’m guessing
that he’s referring to ‘global warming’ by ‘danger’ and I’m guessing
he thinks that alternate uses of oil would provide better returns for
society.
If he cares
to admit that these are his arguments, then I’m happy to show why he’s
mistaken.
Low energy
prices bring economic prosperity and human freedom. I’m not willing
to sacrifice these to Bob’s opinion that these things are ‘bad habits’.
- John_in_Oz
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Disclaimer- All quotes printed in this publication are believed to be
accurately attributed, but no guarantees are made that some incorrectly
attributed, or even outright false quotes won’t get in here from time
to time. I assure readers that I will do my best to weed out incorrect
quotes, and will print a retraction as soon as I become aware of any errors.
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If you run across something really outstanding when perusing the archives,
I’d appreciate it if you’d mail me at TheBestOfRGQ@yahoo.com
and point it out to me. I’m in the process of compiling an e-book
called, not surprisingly, The Best of RGQ, and I’d like to hear from you
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