Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Lieberman's still a tool!

My GOD, Lieberman is a fricking TOOL.

Here's how the Joe Lieberman of 2010 responded when asked, point-blank, how he could consider supporting the CEO of WWE after his history of decrying immoral pop culture products: "I'm not gonna hold her accountable for anything she did in the past. I want to hear what her ideas are on foreign policy, domestic policy."

Yeah! Why would you ever want to hold anyone accountable for anything they've done in the past! O.o /boggle

Joe Lieberman still flirting with endorsing Linda McMahon

Thursday, May 06, 2010

Lieberman Still an Incompetent Douchebag

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/05/06/lieberman_tea_act/index.html

Lieberman's sponsoring a bill called the TEA act (seriously), that will strip Americans of their citizenship if they're *accused* of a terroist act. Not if they're convicted; if they're accused.

What's most annoying to me about this whole citizenship-stripping idea is this: why are the courts not sufficient?! We have an existing justice system. If we start stripping people of rights *before* a trial, that is very distinctly anti-rule-of-law. It's a clear violation of the concept of due process, which to me seems inherently un-American ... See Moreand a complete renunciation of our core values.

If we're ok with the Federal Gov't stripping rights based solely on *accusation*, then what the hell is our distinction from autocratic regimes elsewhere in the world? Lieberman's inability to understand this clear conceptual contradiction is a clear sign that he's seriously too stupid and demagogue-y to keep his job.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Accenture Hiring Blitz in SF?

My friend Kelly tells me that Accenture was conducting some sort of a hiring blitz in downtown SF yesterday. That immediately made me think, "oh good! that means the economy is turning around!"

Accenture started scaling back hiring in early/mid 2008. It started major lay-offs (VERY unusual for ACN to lay people off) at the end of 2008. By mid-2009 it had dumped a ton of people (myself included, though I got a phat severance package and I'm finishing up my MBA at Presidio, so I welcomed it). Accenture's hiring practices have to me always seemed to be an early indicator of where the economy is going.

The reason for this is that Accenture is a professional services company, contracting with nearly all of the planet's major companies. When those companies start feeling the pinch, they scale back or even cancel their consulting projects, well before they start any layoffs. If that happens across the economy, Accenture can't re-distribute its workforce to new projects, because there aren't enough projects available, so it freezes hiring. Accenture's attrition is naturally ~20% annually, so a hiring freeze can often be enough to re-adjust its size to match a downturn. But if the downturn is severe enough, it has to lay people off (which, if I remember correctly, has only happened twice in its history in the US (including its 50-plus-year history as Andersen Consulting and Arthur Andersen): 2001 when the tech bubble burst, and 2008/9).

Conversely, when companies find themselves with cash again, it is often much faster to hire an Accenture (or Deloitte or whomever) to staff new projects because Accenture can mobilize a workforce within days of being asked (by pulling available staff from all over the country, even all over the planet if needed). Since Accenture had cut its staff so dramatically in the last 2 years, the fact that Accenture is out on the streets pounding the pavement for new blood suggests that demand has risen so quickly and so dramatically that the traditional pool of new college hires and displaced Bay Area tech workers isn't sufficient to meet their demand. I have *NEVER* heard of Accenture hiring through people on the street or a truck driving around. You'd need to verify the truth of it (I know some recruiters in SF if you need their contact info), but if that's the case it suggests that demand is rising insanely fast, and Accenture is desperate for new blood to staff at its client projects.

Yet another economic leading indicator like the Baltic Dry shipping index thing, but this one's a bit closer to home for both the Bay Area, and the US. =)

Friday, January 29, 2010

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Extreme Sheep LED Art

Oh my god, if you haven't seen this yet, it's beyond awesome. BEYOND.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Surprised Kitty

I know I'm late to this one, since it's got a good 3.5 million views already, but still. Super freaking cute. =D

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The current financial crisis: explained

If you don't really understand why we're in a recession and exactly how it happend, this podcast of NPR's This American Life will explain it.  It is absolutely worth listening to; very entertaining and easy to understand.  

Basically there are a lot of fucking stupid and greedy idiots out there.  Matt, I don't see how your thesis that pay=value could possibly stand up to this counter-evidence.



Monday, October 19, 2009

What Cats Are Really Thinking

Hahahaha, the dubbing is too perfect. =D

Friday, October 09, 2009

You and Your Browser

Haha, just saw this as an ad on Hulu! It's so cute!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Frank Schaeffer on Rachel Maddow

Hmmm. I definitely agree with this guy, but I'm a little concerned his message is lost amidst the "they're crazy" language. Though really, many of them are. And I can sympathize with his virulence; when you grow up amidst all that there's always a part of you that still believes it's right (or rather, fears that you're wrong that it's wrong), and the virulence against it helps to drown out that voice... =/

Friday, September 25, 2009

Over 9000 licks

This is so totally random.... a reference to an apparently obscure anime meme... but hey, it folds in early 80s Tootsie Pop animation, so it won me over. =P

Kyl: I Don't Need Maternity Care In My Health Insurance - Stabenow: Your Mom Probably Did!

Oh no she di'int!!! Senator Stabenow drops a "your mom" joke on Senator Kyl.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Thursday, September 17, 2009

World of Warcraft Paladin Caramelldansen

. . . Umm. This just makes me happy. In case you're wondering, that's an anime Blood Elf Paladin in full T2. >.>