Here’s an interesting situation:
If you were her boss, would you have done the same?
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Job Wanted
Here’s something I’ve never done on this website before, but when you see who and what this is all about, you’ll understand.
The executive summary reads as follows:
Recently laid off due to a company bankruptcy, he is an engineer and business development specialist with over 25 years in startups. He has invented, developed, and innovated in a number of technologies from graphing databases and encryption software to chemical coatings, low temperature gas kinetics, medical devices and software, aerodynamic vehicle systems, industrial visual safety products and more. Looking for something full time but is available for consulting. If you know anyone who needs good advice or help with a technological problem, he is a great place to start.
“He” is known to all Longtime Readers as “Combat Controller”, and he’s looking for a job.
He’s also one of my closest friends, so any help you can throw his way, whether by referral (what business-speak types call “networking”) or an actual job offer, will earn my undying gratitude, and may involve the gift of one of my prized guns should it all work out for everyone concerned.
If you have an idea, or need more info, drop me an email and I’ll put you in touch with him. Get the call out, folks, and thank you all in advance.
Cultural Tastes
This is an interesting topic only insofar as it reinforces something I’ve believed for a long time:
‘Eating with your hands is scientifically proven to improve texture and the flavour of food, as well as a whole host of health benefits. It’s something more people should know about and get to grips with.
‘Many of the world’s most popular foods are eaten with the hands – think burgers, tacos, tortilla, wraps, and wings, so why can’t other foods be as well?
‘Eating with our hands helps to make us more mindful about what we are eating and heighten our dining experience, rather than just thoughtlessly using cutlery like we always do.
‘The fork gets in the way and separates you from your senses.’
Like many South African kids of my vintage, I had a Black “mommy” — technically a live-in housemaid, but in reality much, much more than that. When I was little more than a baby, while doing the housework Mary would carry me around on her back, held there by a blanket wrapped around herself, thus:
Put a White face on that kid, and you’d have me. (My feet still point outwards when I walk, a common trait among people carried in this fashion.)
Anyway, I remember asking Mary why Blacks didn’t use knives and forks when they ate. Her response was interesting: “How do White people taste their food?”
And she was right. It really does make a difference.
Now, I’m not going to follow the thing to its illogical conclusion like the guy does in the linked article; some foods should only be eaten with a utensil — I draw the line when it comes to eating slushy foods like pasta and soup, for instance. (And forget eating with mouth open, as he proposes — that’s just disgusting.)
But as he points out, we do eat many solid foods with our hands: pizza, hamburgers and assorted sandwiches are all eaten by hand — and this extends to foods best eaten by hand, such as ribs, sausages and similar delicacies.
As much as I enjoy eating with my hands, I do draw the line at doing so in a restaurant setting (unless at a BBQ or picnic, where anything goes, as it should). But at home?
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make my normal breakfast of boerewors, a boiled egg and cheese chunks.
All to be eaten by hand.
And by the way, Charles Spence is a psychologist, not a scientist.
Fiddling With Beloved Institutions
Aaaargh here we go again: yet another of the world’s greatest institutions is under attack:
British meme account No Context Brits set off a rather fiery debate on Twitter where they proposed a rather controversial question. Along with a snap of a plated full English, they asked: “You have to lose one item. What is it?”
All the trimmings were up for the cut, including mushrooms and black pudding. Although what first seemed like a impossible decision, many opted to rid of the tomato sauce-covered beans.
This is what happens when people have too much spare time: they change things that need no changing.
That said, I could lose the black pudding (top right) because I seldom eat it unless I’m starving and all the other items on the plate have been devoured. (Frankly, though, if all the items as pictured have been eaten, there’s no need to go any further, Kim you gluttonous fat pig.)
Next thing they’ll be wanting to put an automatic gearbox in an AC Cobra. (You saw it here first.)
Just Sayin’
Stories like this one provide yet another reason why women shouldn’t be allowed in the workplace:
A ‘cold and calculating’ fraudster stole more than £1.3million from a small family business where she worked. Alison Smith abused her role at a Blaenavon firm in a ‘devastating’ nine-year fraud, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Roger Griffiths said the 42-year-old sowed division and animosity in the family who own Eiran Civil Engineering so she could go undetected as she made hundreds of fraudulent payments – funding a habit for expensive holidays, cars and clothes. Smith worked for the company as a financial manager from June 2012 until January this year when she resigned.
I don’t care about the money this bitch stole; men have often done precisely the same thing, or worse. But this horrible woman’s most damning act was sowing “division and animosity in the family”. Read the whole story to get an idea of the immensity of her evil.
I can honestly say that in my 40+ years in business life, I never saw a man who could compete with any woman in creating an atmosphere of devious backbiting, career assassination and downright unpleasantness in the workplace. And in most cases it had nothing to do with crap like sexual harassment, either (although I saw that little ploy used quite often). Women were (and are) just as willing to stab other women in the back, if it benefits them — or sometimes just out of outright spite.
Anecdote is not data, of course; but ask any ordinary working woman* whether she’d prefer to work with men, or in a female-only workplace. The response may surprise you.
*this definition would exclude gender careerists and almost all rabid feministicals.
No Responsibility
Here’s a recent situation which set my teeth on edge:
Mackenzie Croxford-Cook, 14 and from Deal in Kent, died on August 3 this year after entering a fairground in Pencester Gardens in Dover before it opened to the public.
He and a number of friends gained access to the fun fair and used the dodgems and trampolines before the teen was trapped and fatally injured on a ‘superstar’ machine.
So far, so good: irresponsible / lawless teens go exploring, start fucking around on equipment that in normal times would be responsibly operated and controlled, and find out the ultimate cost of trespass and said behavior. Sad, but teenagers do this kind of stuff all the time (although not always with a tragic end), and we all feel for the grieving parents of said hooligans etc. etc.
Here’s what blows the cuff off my arm:
The inquest into his death was due to conclude on Monday at County Hall in Maidstone, but area coroner Katrina Hepburn adjourned the case so further information could be gathered.
The coroner would like to question ride operator, Luke Shufflebottom, as well as Dover District Council which owns the land.
Ummm what for? Was said funfair locked up? Were signs posted which said, “Warning: Equipment Should Not Be Operated Except By Fairground Employees”, or something like that? If so, then we all move on — if not, then fines can be issued and so on.
Ms Hepburn wants to have ‘all of the information’ needed to both conclude the inquest and potentially issue a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report, if necessary, due to any failings or shortcomings which could have contributed to the death. She explained: ‘Mackenzie and his colleagues had access to this ride outside its hours of operation with such tragic consequences. I believe there is missing evidence looking at the fencing of this ride and questions about access to this location for these teenagers on that morning. Mackenzie was trapped in a fairground ride but I don’t have evidence about how that location was being fenced and monitored at that hour in the morning.’
Errrr no. You’re the fucking coroner. Your responsibility begins and ends with determining the cause of death. If there’s any kind of culpability to be sought, that’s actually the job of the police to determine — assuming they’re not too busy tracking down and arresting perpetrators of hateful online texts, that is.
And excuse me, but it is not the responsibility of the fairground operator to have security constantly patrolling the (locked) premises just in case a bunch of thrill-seeking, irresponsible punks happen to come calling.
I’m heartily sick of criminal behavior being excused because there weren’t a thousand warning signs posted or a security guard stationed at five-yard intervals just in case some scrote feels like breaking the law. A fence, a locked gate and a warning sign should be all that’s necessary to prevent you from accidentally getting hurt. After that, you’re on your own and if bad things happen it’s your fault, and your problem.
Some people, such as the above coroner, are no doubt going to disagree with me, but I don’t care. They’re wrong, and I’m right.