Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Interesting Concept?
Workers shifting to 4-day week to save gasoline
By Andrea HopkinsThu May 29, 4:07 PM ET
When Ohio's Kent State University offered custodial staff the option of working four days a week instead of five to cut commuting costs, most jumped at the chance, part of a U.S. trend aimed at combating soaring gasoline prices.
"We offered it to 94 employees and 78 have taken us up on it," said university spokesman Scott Rainone.
The reason is simple: rising gas prices and a desire to retain good workers. And while so far only the university's custodians are eligible, Rainone hopes the option will be offered to all departments -- including his own.
"In our office, we have people who travel anywhere from five or six miles to a couple who are on the road 45 to 50 minutes," Rainone said. "As the price of gas rises, the level of grumbling rises."
Regular gasoline averages $3.94 a gallon in the United States, up 33 cents in the past month and 88 cents since the beginning of the year, the Energy Information Administration said this week.
The federal government has offered four-day workweeks to eligible employees for years as part of a flexible work program that also includes telecommuting.
But the surge in gasoline prices is pushing more private employers as well as local governments to offer a four-day week as a perk that eliminates two commutes a week.
Staff at Neighborhood Development Services in rural northeastern Ohio were talking about quitting to find work closer to their homes when executive director Dave Vaughan stepped in with offers to compress their work week.
"I didn't want to lose people," Vaughan said of the program, which more than half of his 19 employees began last week. "In rural areas like we are, gas price increases are more challenging because we don't have the mass transit alternative -- we can't jump on a bus or take a train."
Eventually, Vaughan hopes to close the office one day a week, further reducing energy costs.
In America's struggling automaking heartland, the shorter workweek offers employers a way of rewarding employees when the budget does not allow a salary increase, said Oakland County, Michigan, executive L. Brooks Patterson.
"By allowing employees to work four 10-hour days it will save them 20 percent on their commute costs and ease the financial pinch of filling up their cars," said Patterson, who last week proposed the compressed week for county workers.
Gasoline prices have begun altering U.S. commutes in many ways, a survey released on Thursday showed.
CHANGING HABITS
Some 44 percent of respondents said they have changed the way they commute -- doing things such as sharing a ride or driving a more fuel-efficient car -- or are working from home or looking for a closer job in order to reduce gasoline costs, according to staffing services company Robert Half International. That's up from 34 percent two years ago.
On New York's Long Island, Suffolk County legislator Wayne Horsley also has proposed employees have the option of working four 10-hour shifts, rather than five eight-hour shifts, saying it would save 461 barrels of oil in a 120-day pilot project.
"This is a gasoline-driven proposition and we're looking to change people's long term philosophies of life," Horsley said.
The program, termed Operation Sunshine, will cut gasoline costs for workers who drive an average round trip of 32 miles to work. It also aims to cut the county's energy bill by having fewer employees in the office at a time, Horsley said.
In Oklahoma, a resolution is pending before the state legislature encouraging state agencies to implement flexible work schedules that would allow the four-day workweek.
"State employees are on fixed budgets and they are not usually the most highly paid in our society," said State Sen. Earl Garrison, a Democrat, who sponsored the measure.
Some schools, including community colleges in rural areas where commutes are long and public transportation is scarce, already have plans to drop a day of classes, usually Fridays.
The school district in Marietta, Georgia, a city north of Atlanta, institutes a four-day week during June and July when schools are out and it is mostly administrative staff who are working, saving on air conditioning and water in addition to commuting costs for employees, said Thomas Algarin, director of communications at Marietta City Schools.
But a four-day workweek brings problems too. The state government in Ohio is bucking the national trend and canceling an 8-year-old policy that allowed a compressed workweek.
"There were just too many vacant seats on Friday," said Ron Sylvester, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services.
(Additional reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago, Kevin Krolicki in Detroit, Marcy Nicholson in New York, Matthew Bigg in Atlanta and Tom Doggett in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott and David Wiessler)
Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Biological Crisis.
I hear that they made a new version of The Andromeda Strain, Michael Chriton's classic of bio warfare gone horribly wrong. I don't have cable so I didn't see it, but from the descriptions I have heard, apparently it has lost its luster. Andromeda was the first real technothriller ever written. Filled with facts, written with an authority that only one who is a medical genius can write, the book was a cautionary tale of a biological crisis gone wrong. The tale today still would hold true, but apparently some over eager idiot decided that some embellishment was necessary. Apparently, Chriton has more appreciation for his stock portfolio and his money belt then the integrity of his story.
Another tale of biological crisis is the non-fiction book "The Hot Zone." "The Hot Zone" depicted what was the first real biological crisis to hit the US in since the Spanish Flu in 1918 which ended World War I. (While historians like to say that the nations tired of war and the Germans were exhausted, the Spanish Flu had removed so many soldiers from the front and killed so many that continuing the war was not possible for either side). In full view of the US Capitol dome on the horizon, a group of monkeys at an animal quarntine facility in Reston Virginia, became contaminated with an Ebola-like strain of disease. Hopelessly contaminated, the Army eventually had to come in to contain and dispose of all the infected animals many of whom were still very alive and kicking, biting or scratching. One breach of a suit and the occupant was contaminated and the consequences of that were too horrible to contemplate. The consequences were dramatic and could have been much worse had the animals escaped and gotten into the general population. The strain was eventually given the classification as Ebola Reston, and is an airborne variety which means it can be passed from person to person like the common cold. A grave crisis was averted only through diligent action and a large amount of luck.
Ebola, for the unitiated, is a rare kind of disease caused by a Filovirus, which is essentially a strand of genetic information. Because it is a stand of RNA and not a conventional virus as such, the body has little defence against it. This strand, once introduced into a cell, like many viruses, seeks to copy itself and create as many duplicates of itself as possible. Essentially what eventually happens is that the entire cell turns into virus strands and the contamination continues to each cell in the body. Each cell is consumed and destroyed as the process continues. If unchecked, the body begins to shut down as the organs are slowly consumed. Blood vessels are compromised which leads to the victim literally crying blood from his eyes. Fatality is foughly 50 to 90 percent with most cases dying due to organ failure.
Man, in his quest for riches has ventured into areas of Africa where Man has never touched and has never been. New strains of disease could be there waiting for him like Ebola and so forth. Fortunately, Ebola kills much to readily for it to be a threat. It is relatively easy to recognize. Unfortunately, thanks to the international airline system, a disease which an oil exploration worker could catch in the Congo, could be in Houston tomorrow and from there to the rest of the country in the time it takes to catch a flight.
As far as fear is concerned, I remembered a President of the US long ago who told us that we had nothing to fear but fear itself. Armed with that kind of courage, we faced a depression and a World War with equal resolve. The cowards who rule our land today have no appreciation of that kind of courage. They hide behind their money and power while another great generation of our best and brightest fights and dies on a battlefield far away for another useless cause. For what? So I can have cheap gas, the Gas I had to PAY $3.90 a gallon for this morning? Whatever our boys are dying for, it isn't working. All we have done is to stir a hornets nest and created a whole generation of enemies that will continue to threaten our land for ages to come. Maybe that was the plan all along. Something to keep the military/industrial/political complex busy.
We have compromised our country to its detriment. God only knows what future generations will say of us, allowing a madman to sieze the reins of power. Hopefully we will not have to endure this for much longer as our great system allows only a few more months of this madness. Hopefully, if our election system has not been compromised, we will have new leaders with new ideas who will remove us from our nightmare and bring our tired boys back from the battlefield. Like Vietnam, this war will have exhausted our willingness to face crisis for at least a decade and allow our enemies to wander aimlessly across the world. Threats that we should have dealt with, were not dealt with due to our commitment to the war. The time will come soon where the cards will have to be put on the table. Question is, whose bluff will be called.
Another tale of biological crisis is the non-fiction book "The Hot Zone." "The Hot Zone" depicted what was the first real biological crisis to hit the US in since the Spanish Flu in 1918 which ended World War I. (While historians like to say that the nations tired of war and the Germans were exhausted, the Spanish Flu had removed so many soldiers from the front and killed so many that continuing the war was not possible for either side). In full view of the US Capitol dome on the horizon, a group of monkeys at an animal quarntine facility in Reston Virginia, became contaminated with an Ebola-like strain of disease. Hopelessly contaminated, the Army eventually had to come in to contain and dispose of all the infected animals many of whom were still very alive and kicking, biting or scratching. One breach of a suit and the occupant was contaminated and the consequences of that were too horrible to contemplate. The consequences were dramatic and could have been much worse had the animals escaped and gotten into the general population. The strain was eventually given the classification as Ebola Reston, and is an airborne variety which means it can be passed from person to person like the common cold. A grave crisis was averted only through diligent action and a large amount of luck.
Ebola, for the unitiated, is a rare kind of disease caused by a Filovirus, which is essentially a strand of genetic information. Because it is a stand of RNA and not a conventional virus as such, the body has little defence against it. This strand, once introduced into a cell, like many viruses, seeks to copy itself and create as many duplicates of itself as possible. Essentially what eventually happens is that the entire cell turns into virus strands and the contamination continues to each cell in the body. Each cell is consumed and destroyed as the process continues. If unchecked, the body begins to shut down as the organs are slowly consumed. Blood vessels are compromised which leads to the victim literally crying blood from his eyes. Fatality is foughly 50 to 90 percent with most cases dying due to organ failure.
Man, in his quest for riches has ventured into areas of Africa where Man has never touched and has never been. New strains of disease could be there waiting for him like Ebola and so forth. Fortunately, Ebola kills much to readily for it to be a threat. It is relatively easy to recognize. Unfortunately, thanks to the international airline system, a disease which an oil exploration worker could catch in the Congo, could be in Houston tomorrow and from there to the rest of the country in the time it takes to catch a flight.
As far as fear is concerned, I remembered a President of the US long ago who told us that we had nothing to fear but fear itself. Armed with that kind of courage, we faced a depression and a World War with equal resolve. The cowards who rule our land today have no appreciation of that kind of courage. They hide behind their money and power while another great generation of our best and brightest fights and dies on a battlefield far away for another useless cause. For what? So I can have cheap gas, the Gas I had to PAY $3.90 a gallon for this morning? Whatever our boys are dying for, it isn't working. All we have done is to stir a hornets nest and created a whole generation of enemies that will continue to threaten our land for ages to come. Maybe that was the plan all along. Something to keep the military/industrial/political complex busy.
We have compromised our country to its detriment. God only knows what future generations will say of us, allowing a madman to sieze the reins of power. Hopefully we will not have to endure this for much longer as our great system allows only a few more months of this madness. Hopefully, if our election system has not been compromised, we will have new leaders with new ideas who will remove us from our nightmare and bring our tired boys back from the battlefield. Like Vietnam, this war will have exhausted our willingness to face crisis for at least a decade and allow our enemies to wander aimlessly across the world. Threats that we should have dealt with, were not dealt with due to our commitment to the war. The time will come soon where the cards will have to be put on the table. Question is, whose bluff will be called.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Work is fun! NOT!!!!!
Last night at work was not fun. Seems we had a water main break in the interior of the mall and it caused a lot of problems. Hopefully there is no hidden damage, but there was a lot of water in the interior of the mall. The cleaning company the mall employed got most of it and they had to call the Fire Department at the height of the crisis to help out. They got everything under control eventually and cleaned up and looking nice by the time I got in.
Oh, but here comes the best part. Since there was not maintenance personel on duty last night, yours truly had to go and pump sewage out of the pump room every hour on the hour as it was still draining off. I never want to see a pump or water or a dehumidifier again if I can help it. Plus I STILL had to wash the trucks at work. I swear, I really should be looking for another job tomorrow. I need to rest today. If I'm not here most of the day today then I am sure after a night I have had you can understand. I deserve a rest.
Thanks Mary for your kind words...
Thanks Bee for your kind concern... :-)
God bless all...
Till I return...
Oh, but here comes the best part. Since there was not maintenance personel on duty last night, yours truly had to go and pump sewage out of the pump room every hour on the hour as it was still draining off. I never want to see a pump or water or a dehumidifier again if I can help it. Plus I STILL had to wash the trucks at work. I swear, I really should be looking for another job tomorrow. I need to rest today. If I'm not here most of the day today then I am sure after a night I have had you can understand. I deserve a rest.
Thanks Mary for your kind words...
Thanks Bee for your kind concern... :-)
God bless all...
Till I return...
Monday, May 26, 2008
Dreamy Idealist (or Drill Instructor if you were in the Marines)
Got this test from Dorid. Thought I would take it. I looked at some of the answers and I thought I had a mixture of a lot of them. However, they came out interesting.....
Dreamy Idealist (DI)
(Take the free test and determine your personality type!)
The dreamy idealist is very cautious and therefore often appears shy and reserved to others. He shares his rich emotional life and his passionate convictions with very few people. But one would be very much mistaken to judge him to be cool and reserved. He has a pronounced inner system of values and clear, honourable principles for which he is willing to sacrifice a great deal. Johanna von Orleans or Sir Galahad would have been good examples of this personality type. He is always at great pains to improve the world. He can be very considerate towards others and does a lot to support them and stand up for them. He is interested in his fellow beings, attentive and generous towards them. Once his enthusiasm for an issue or person is aroused, he can become a tireless fighter.
For the dreamy idealist, practical things are not really so important. He only busies himself with mundane everyday demands when absolutely necessary. He tends to live according to the motto “the genius controls the chaos” - which is normally the case so that he often has a very successful academic career. He is less interested in details; he prefers to look at something as a whole. This means that he still has a good overview even when things start to become hectic. However, as a result, it can occasionally happen that he overlooks something important. As he is very peace-loving, he tends not to openly show his dissatisfaction or annoyance but to bottle it up. Assertiveness is not one of his strong points; he hates conflicts and competition. He prefers to motivate others with his amicable and enthusiastic nature. Whoever has him as superior will never have to complain about not being given enough praise.
As at work, the dreamy idealist is a helpful and loyal friend and partner, a person of integrity. Obligations are absolutely sacred to him. The feelings of other are important to him and he loves making other people happy. He is satisfied with just a small circle of friends; his need for social contact is not very marked as he also needs a lot of time to himself. Superfluous small talk is not his thing. If one wishes to be friends with him or have a relationship with him, one would have to share his world of thought and be willing to participate in profound discussions. If you manage that you will be rewarded with an exceptionally intensive, rich partnership. Due to his high demands on himself and others, this personality type tends however to sometimes overload the relationship with romantic and idealistic ideas to such an extent that the partner feels overtaxed or inferior. The dreamy idealist does not fall in love head over heels but when he does fall in love he wants his to be a great, eternal love.
Phoenix has landed!
Yesterday was a great day for NASA's Mars Exploration Program. After being plagued by a string of expensive and spactacular failures, the appropiately named Phoenix finally vindicated the rocket scientists at JPL. Phoenix landed on Mars at approximately 06:54 CDT close to the Martian North Pole. The goal of Phoenix will be to look for water and signs of organics in the soil which might indicate life.
Here is one of the first pictures returned:
They say that the surface resembles a "tundra like" terrain, without the plants of course. Looks like the footpads have a good area to rest on and the lander is stable.
Here is a look out to the landscape:
Its a horizon begging to be explored, but the Phoenix is fixed and has no wheels. She will dig around the lander, but we will have to wait till future fiscal years to explore that horizon.
Last night was pretty harry for me. I thought I had a power spike that knocked out my modem. We had some pretty hairy lightning storms last night. Now this was in the middle of the coverage for the Phoenix lander. Since I don't have cable, I have to watch it on the net. so I was talking on the phone with a friend when I heard a loud beep and both the phone and the internet went out. The picture on the net freezed at the Mission Control at JPL, after the landing. I was waiting for pictures to come in and I didn't want to miss them. However, after that, I started a power spike protection protocol and started unhooking everything. I have two UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) units for battery backup and protection for power outages and surges. But the Modem is a different story. After the storm when I hooked everything back up, the internet wouldn't come back up. After trying for a while I figured the modem was knocked out. So I figured I would call AT&T the next day and get a new modem, if I needed one. I would just try to diagnose the problem a little later when I didn't have to go to work.
Well, to make a long story short (TOO LATE!) I got back this morning and booted up the system and checked the cables again. Now I have been trying to get my router to work and those cables were lying around. Simply said, I hooked up a dead router to the computer and that's why I couldn't get on the net. Now I have it hooked back up and everything is great which is why I am writing to you now.
Dear reader, I feel OK now. If one has seen Office Space, there is a scene in that movie where the guy tells his hypnotherapist that every day he experiences is worse than the day before. And each day following is worse and is getting worse. His hypnothearpist tells him, "that's messed up dude," and preceedes to die of a heart attack right in front of him. I feel like that. Some days are diamonds and some days are rain.
Today is a diamond day, with partly cloudy skies.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Xiao Zhao's Rays Paint Mercury's Surface
| Xiao Zhao's Rays Paint Mercury's Surface | |
| Release Date: May 19, 2008 |
| Date Acquired: January 14, 2008 Image Mission Elapsed Time (MET): 108828473 | |
Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington |
For information regarding the use of MESSENGER images, see the image use policy.
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About Me
- spacestevie
- I am interested in CNG vehicles because they are good for the environment and aren't powered by dead Marines. I still have a little hope for the world. Read the musings and enjoy.