American Dream?

Well, FINALLY, the rest of the world has caught on to something we’ve known for a long time: the American Dream is an illusion.
While half of the country – the “Red” half – still seems to be asleep, most of us have woken up a long time ago, around the time of the Reagan presidency in fact.
A thoughtful article from Newsweek does a very good job of describing the House of Cards that used to be the US.

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As I’ve Been Saying All Along…

People have given me sanctimonious advice my whole life about how looks don’t matter, it’s what’s inside that counts, etc.
As anyone who had the misfortune to grow up homely knows, that’s a pantload.
And telling people who weren’t born lucky in looks that if they would only change their at-ti-tude, they would be happy/rich/successful – well, it just adds insult to injury.

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The Meaning of Team

I cringe when I read job descriptions for technology positions that mention the word “team”.
I’ve worked in a couple of environments in which this word was bandied about by clones of Jack from “Lord of the Flies”. These people had no idea, no clue in heaven or hell, of what it means to lead a team.
And I think I know why.

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Day 4

It’s the start of Day 4 with no furnace. Right now, it’s about 3 degrees outside and 51 in the house.
Fortunately, the water pipes still seem to be okay.
The computers are happy: my PC, which had been making a regular groaning noise for months, is humming pleasantly, whether due to the temperature in the office or the fixes I made earlier this week.

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