Warning Signs at Work

No, I've noticed none of them; they just bear repeating.

From MSN:

Get Clued into Layoff Warning Signs
by Therese Droste

Maybe you love your job so much you brush off hints that the company's wheels are starting to come off. Or maybe you despise your job enough that you pay no attention to anything other than getting through a full day. Maybe you have no reason to watch for signs that you might be headed for a job loss.

But maybe you should. Even if you're doing well and things seem peachy in the workplace, it's never a bad idea to pay attention to hints that your job may be in jeopardy. Stay one step ahead of a layoff by heeding these warning signs.

( Read more... )

Duchamp in Neuromancer

From an E-mail I sent to a professor of mine:

I thought that it might interest you, given your interest in modernist culture, to know that Marcel Duchamp's La mariée mise á nu par ses célibataires, même has made at least one appearance in science fiction, in William Gibson's Neuromancer.

Neuromancer is the prototype cyberpunk novel, exploring a time when information technology has become ubiquitous in the context of a general technological blossoming yet conditions worldwide (environmental, political, social) have degraded sharply as a result of fierce competition between all manners of agencies (state, business, secret). The plot is set around the Tessier-Ashpool corporation--run by a secretive, technophilic, and profoundly decadent family--and its space station, which houses an emergent artificial intelligence. The protagonist, Case, is on a spaceship nearby, watching through his lover/co-worker Molly's eyes (literally; cybernetic relays) as she moves through the station. Duchamp's work makes its appearance on page 207 of the 10th anniversary (1994) Ace edition:

"[Molly] had passed many things that case hadn't understood, but his curiosity was gone. There had been a room filled with shelves of books, a million flat leaves of yellowing paper pressed between bindings of cloth or leather, the shelves marked at intervals by labels that followed a code of letters and numbers; a crowded gallery where Case had stared, through Molly's incurious eys, at a shattered, dust-stenciled sheet of glass, a thing labeled--her gaze had tracked the brass plaque automatically--"La mariée mise á nu par ses célibataires, même." She'd reached out and touched this, her artificial nails clocking against the Lexan sandwich protecting the broken glass."



Just for your curiosity's sake.

(no subject)

My sphere is Ronin (Look for great Ambition and Success), and my class is Defender (Peaceful, yet Potent). I am a Sentry. You believe in defending the ones you trust, and you will defend them with all your strength, that's for sure. But who is worthy of that trust? You and you alone decide who is worthy, who is not worthy, and when your moods change. Your friends will heed you as an excellent force to have on their side, but your enemies will loathe you with a passion unequaled. What kind of Warrior are you?

The Crofters Fight Back

From the New York Times:

Land Reforms in Scotland Give Big Estates the Jitters
By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

DORNACH, Scotland, Feb. 20 -- Swaddled in the solitude of the Scottish Highlands, Skibo Castle, once the home of the steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie and now a storybook resort for the privileged, is a place infused with an aura of tranquillity and comfort.

The rich and famous travel here to the northern reaches of Scotland to golf, ride, roam about the grounds and attend candlelight dinners. Madonna married Guy Ritchie at the castle two years ago, in full Scottish regalia. Members of Skibo's members-only Carnegie Club enjoy a "unique and private refuge from the hectic world," its Web site boasts.

But last month the Scottish Parliament, a four-year-old institution based in Edinburgh, overwhelmingly passed a land reform bill that fundamentally changes property rights in Scotland and could greatly expand the public's access even to private estates like Skibo Castle.

( Read more... )

In Coming Days ...

In the midst of the freezing rain and pervasive slush, I ventured worth from work to the Town & Country. Jeremy was the only one there, being the only other one in town, so we chatted and ate for an hour. He's a cool guy; Tara's lucky.

In other news, I'll have quite a lot to do for school in the coming days. 'Twill be fun, if draining.