2014 — 21 January: Tuesday
I didn't forget1 to put out my monthly crate of glass items for recycling last night — it's just that, for the accumulated total, it didn't seem worth the effort. The collecting crew still woke me up this morning, of course. Where's the justice in that?
Should the morning mist...
... ever clear, I shall have to nip out for some fresh food (that being the kind I prefer). No great rush, however. Our mid-week walk isn't until tomorrow... No other shopping, either. I think I've notched up quite enough for one month. Dear mama, meanwhile, has notched up yet another little present from Uncle ERNIE. Typical!
Bitter? Who, me? Bite me!
When I read...
... reports (of academic "defenestration" — a lovely word I first encountered in Arthur C Clarke's tale of poor Ermintrude Inch) such as this, I feel very relaxed at the idea of my tertiary education (a) being over 40 years ago, and (b) having been engineering, rather than the awesome sh1t beautifully described here. Source and snippet:
When the academy is forced to explain the value of the humanities, the language that it uses is pathetically insipid. You may have heard the defense du jour, tossed out en route
to the next gender studies conference. The humanities, we are told, teach "critical thinking." Is this a joke? These are the same people who write sentences like this:
"Total presence breaks on the univocal predication of the exterior absolute the absolute existent (of that of which it is not possible to univocally predicate an outside, while the
equivocal predication of the outside of the absolute exterior is possible of that of which the reality so predicated is not the reality .... of the self)."
And we're supposed to believe that they can think? Moreover, the sciences provide critical thinking skills as well — far more rigorous ones, in fact, than the hackneyed
deconstructions of advertising that the left-wing academy usually means by critical thinking.
Mind you, I must admit I gurgled like a drain the first time I read the skilful "deconstruction" of the Silk Cut cigarette adverts by fictional academic Dr Robyn Penrose in David Lodge's wonderful novel Nice Work. And that was back in September 1988!
I've just been fossicking...
... around in my emails to and from Carol in late 1988 to see what, if anything, I'd told her about the Lodge novel. I discovered I'd managed to persuade one of my bookshop favourites to sell it to me a week before its official publication date, but that wasn't of any particular note. However, I also found this:
Tomorrow we are visited by the Lab Director (at, to be fairly precise, some time between 11.48 and 11.54!). We've been asked to be sure to have one or two questions to put to him (some
groups have even been told what questions to ask —isn't that thoughtful?). If we don't, apparently he will simply talk about himself until the time is up...
Thus, I proudly present, for the first time on your screen, Mounce's proposed question: A question for the 18th October walkabout session:
Think magazine — Terry Lautenbach
The company's longstanding full-employment tradition remains in effect. In addition, financial assistance will be offered to eligible employees who choose to leave the company. IBM US
management expects that between 3000 and 4000 employees will choose to retire or leave IBM. "That's not a contradiction in terms," says Terry Lautenbach. "This is a voluntary program.
For affected employees who want to stay, there'll be a position. In some cases, not all, certainly, it may mean re-training, relocating or taking a lower level position."
2nd Quarter stockholders' report (October 1988)
In keeping with its tradition of full employment, the company is offering affected employees (at Boca etc) another job within the company. Employees at these sites who elect to retire or
leave the company will be provided with financial assistance. Net earnings (second quarter 1988) include the cost of the recently announced manufacturing and headquarters
consolidations ... a one-time charge of $0.61 per share ((amounting to $364m--equivalent to $91,000 per affected employee if 4,000 are involved)).
An observation
In 1987, I worked in a department where three people in their late 50s each opted for the Early Retirement Incentive package. (Five years' pension top-up, one year's tax-free salary,
retirement dinner.) This was despite a heavy workload in that department, which was recognised as being under headcount at the time for its level of committed work. Just over a year
later, all three are now back at work in the same department, this time as contractors. (In 2 cases, doing almost literally the same job as before.)
My question? Oh, that was just "Any comments?" The walkabout didn't occur.
4K-ing hell!
The headline to a fascinating piece in El Reg. Your smileage may vary. 84 comments when I read it. [Pause] Right! The next batch of fresh goodies is safely tucked into (cold) storage.
My latest US (cancelled...
... after one season) TV show experiment:
These little experiments don't always work, of course. I thought Amber Tamblyn was marvellous in "Joan of Arcadia", and Jeremy Renner did a good job in "The Bourne Legacy".
The heavy rain...
... this evening suggests more mud than is likely to be strictly pleasant for tomorrow's walk.