RumRunner

Thanks Excie

Greasy is absolutely right. How you get your information, at least in CA, is immaterial (except that someone else could end up named in a lawsuit against an employer). The gray area TWI will use is that the phrase "screening candidates" is a normal HR phrase used thousand of times daily. It is also true that to fill one slot you may interview 50 candidates and make a single final selection. Law allows for "best" selection and leaves it gray on purpose (otherwise how would attorneys pay their house notes?). If you acurately post a job description you can even make physical ability judgements, eg position requires being able to enter through a 24 inch by 18 inch hatch to work on widget... as long as you POST it in the job desc and you can prove it is a legit requirement you can ask that and demand proof during an interview. So...(and make no mistake I am probably one of the more venomous anti TWI users here) if I were Rosalie - I would gather info from GSC where people reminisce about the physical conditions of ROA or other of those fine little wastest of our lives. Then I would post job descriptions like, must be able to work 18 hour shifts and live in a tent during torrential rain and still have a pressed suit for presentation of critical company material at 6:00 AM the next morning. Must be able to work split shifts (BP - LOLOLOL) and stay up all night standing in one spot with a yellow ball cap and challenge people in the woods in the dark while unarmed. Must be capable of standing in the sun for 14 hours at a time. Must be able to read very fine print. You get the point... 'Course maybe she is too arrogant to bother - but also think of it this way - if you had any kind severe disability would you want to even come close to employment at the Nazi farm? And on GSC we can make the cast that anyone who they DO hire has a disability.....they're supporting Naziism... My my I seem to be antagonistic today...

Geez I just can't stop laughing. I have been out for so long I didn't know TWI thinks that the internet is evil. Odd - let's see now... the printed book was invented and became the way to SPEED UP THE FLOW OF INFORMATION FROM THE AUTHOR TO MANY PEOPLE. While the first printed book was the bible many other books followed - some with not so nice things in them - but TWI never came down on the printed book!!! Nooooh no no - as I recall the movable type printing press was an example of "revelation." Gosh wow where would you right your margin notes from a SNS?!?! laffing so hard I am gonna spit on my keyboard....Ummm explain why the internet is a different value proposition than the printing press other than being faster and having even broader distribution please..... ...From that... If the internet is evil then books are evil and we should still be living in wood huts and dying of disease at the "old" age of thirty something. Better yet - if the internet is evil and it follows that books are evil perhaps we shoujld start burning books... Oh WAIT - WE DID THAT SH(T TOO on uncle hairloss day...LOL. A holocaust survivor commented that "When they starting burning books it is only a matter of time until they start to burn bodies." Oh my yep yep Hitler burned books....I wonder if that Nazi F*&K ever rode around in a motorcoach instead of his custom armored car from time to time.

Heya BB, First - Way coll that you are getting medical attention. Second - yeah I had the same thing happen on my checkout from surgery. I got a card with signatures from everyone in the 4th floor west wing of the hospital I was in. The whole time I was there I was amazed at how thoughtful, caring and upbeat they all were. After all - it is ewasy to think that you are the only one there with a serious problem - and yet these people went from room to room and did their jobs with profiessionalism and true care. Getting a card before I c9ould thank them was sort of a crowning touch. OK - the signs were copies on a preprinted card - so what - it was cool to receive the card. The MD's were in three times a day. the nurses were there 24 hours a day. Makes you heal faster doesn't it? - smiles - and even if it doen'st it still makes you feel better..... Best, RR

Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a great day. First day back at work for a full day after the surgery - albeit in a seminar. Close of the day I had two colleagues tell me it was time for a beer at a fine local sports bar. I showed up and there were a dozen or so colleagues and a bunch of my Navy, USMC and Army SOF/SOG customeres all waiting with beers in hand. So... I went over the top in style in the company of great folk. Wish you all could have been there. The beer (and rum) flowed nicely as did many well wishes. My best and thanks to everyone at GSC! Best, Runner

Heh - Wonder how many people on GSC are old enough to figure out the allusion.... Not likely Debbie will do any significant damage - once it goes above 30 deg north lat it will likely go subtropical quickly and weaken with a continued turn to the right.

Congrats!

Although I did not check the ephemeris for your location vs the ISS it is highly likely you saw it. Ephemeris are nothing more than the numbers that Kepler defined 400 years ago which describe orbital motion. Those same numbers are still used today albeit in much more sophisticated orbital models (for the curious look up SGP4 for low earth orbits and SGP6 for deep space calculations). Ephemeris are also commonly called "one line Charlie elements" or "two line element sets." There are also three line sets used for extremely precise orbit predictions but you wll not find a lot of references to those so you can safely ignore that reference. Again for the curious, if you want to know more about three liners look up things like the "Grace" mission run out of the Center for Space Research at U.T. Austin. For some REALLY REALLY good tutorials go to Dr. T. S. Kelso's site - www.celestrak.com. If you are a glutton for math punishment order the book "Fundamentals of Astrodynamics", US Air Force Academy OK this next sounds more complicated than it is - think of those curved mirrors they use in hospitals to look around corners. The ephemeris themselves only give you satellite location, usually relative to earth center or in specialized cases relative to the sun center (Lagrange point orbits such as the James Webb Space Telescope). What gives you the ability to see the spacecraft is if their is a coincidence of the satellite zentith angle relative to you and the solar zentih angle relative to both the satellite and you; that is the satellite has to be above your horizon, the sun must be below your horizon but above the satellites horizon. Again, for the curiuous, the coordinate system for earth center is, one axis through the earth's poles, one axis through the equator at longitude zero and one axis through the equator at 90 degrees east of that. There is plenty of good information on line - just google satellite orbit calculations. Here is a link to a very simplistic but accurate and easy to use orbit calculator: http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3D.html It is a Java applet so you need to have Java enabled in your browser. Far more sophisticated calculators are available on line but this one is a nice intro - and HEY it's free - smiles. Best, Runner

Hey Hey - nothing wrong with any of the MEF's!!! All of the above are my customers. I have been with them in field units for training on our systems. The ME sucks the same for all of them. Every one of those men and women deserve our utmost respect regardless of political ideologies. Prayers for Jason. as well as your others. V/R, RR

OFM - one of the PM's for one of my A/F contracts is TSgt Smokey (last name omitted) as well. How are we supposed to tellyou guys apart? - laffs Hey if there is any chance you will make it out to West 2007 let me know so I can buy you a beer or 10. We'll have a booth there which I will only be at for some meetings with some Navy and USMC customers but if you are able to come I will make sure there is some set aside time for some cold ones at Seaport Village or someplace equivalent.

My kids recently bought me a copy of "Good Omens", Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, ISBN 0-441-00325-7, © 1990. It is a most hilarious, sardonic and comical write up of Armegeddon - written in almost the precise style of "Hitchiker's Gyide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams; repleat with character names like "Crowley (An Angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downwards) and Sister Mary Loquacious (A Satanic Nun of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl). As I read the following excerpt of a paragraph I started LOl in real life thinking of name tags and clergy robes: "Most of the memberes of the convent were old fashioned Satanists, like their parents and grand-parents before them. Theyd been brought up to it and weren't, when you got right down to it, particularly evil. Human beings mostly aren't. They just get carried away by new ideas, like dressing up in jackboots and shooting people, or dressing up in white sheets and lynching people, or dressing up in tie-dye jeans and playing guitar at people. Offer people a new cread with a costume and their hearts and minds will follow."

Beautiful! No Boo's from this side of the fence.

I had a brief chat with my PCP about singles as well as my mom - who had it once. Since shingles symptoms vary widley with age/ gender/ etc - the person should absolutely consult with an MD. While rarely complicated or ciritcal it is varied enough that professionsal medical adivce should be consulted. Best, R

I'm OK - thanks. I just have swelleing in both legs that is supposed to be going down. It's stable but not descreasing in one leg and increasing in the other. Spent some time with feet elevated aboe chest last night and things are a little better this AM but MD told me if it is not down on Monday to come in. Nothing to worry about at this point. It just keeps me less than mobile. Thanks all for your prayers - I'm fine on this end. Best, R

I have GEICO for both home and auto. I've been with them for auto for over 20 years and have nothing but excellent service. However... Their underwriter for home is Traveler's, a company with mixed reviews AT BEST. There is a discount for both home and auto being on one policy. Someone else noted above that adding a teen to GEICO is a major dent. This is true in spades as I have just added a teen driver; however you can mitigate this buy having the teen have their own car (worth probably less than your primary vehicle) and then get an exclusion, i.e. they cannot drive your primary car - only insured on their own car. This brought things down to an almost reasonable level.

Hmm up to 55 guests now Belle - guess you hit a hornet's nest - laffs - or is this like the end scene in The Matrix where all of the sentinals came ripping down through the roof of Zion?

Firefox has a good intrinsic blocker, goggle toolbar does as well. I strongly discourage the Yahoo toolbar as it is extremely invasive. http://www.firefox.com http://toolbar.google.com

Dunno if moving is an option for you or not. If it is there are a lot of bio/pharm/med jobs in San Diego - although the market is volatile for any of those positions no matter where you are in the US right now

All good advice Dmiller. I agfree completely with all of the cautions, thanks for providing. Those same cautions have been passed on through my various PCP's over the last twenty years or so. All said the same thing - wait as longas you can and keep an eye on the technology. Pain was not the deciding factor for me. I have learned to live with that 24/7 over a decade ago. It was when I lost the mobility to get fully dressed without help; coupled with the fact that the latest technology is looking at 20 years of good use; that I made my decision. So... thanks for your post that urges caution - I would urge the same. I'm available to discuss the issues but in the end I will not provide anything other than my personal experience and will suggest refering any questions to a good ortho-surgeon. Best, RR

As I posted elsewhere I do not have enough thanks for all of your prayers and good thoughts. I'm at home now hanging with my kids. My son si trying to figure out how to take pix of the staples so he can show his friends that his old man looks like a dinosaur... LOL Gotta love your kids. Anyway - again I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your prayers and good thoghts. And HEY - if anyone esle here is going in for something similar - lemme dispell some myths for ya if you have heard one too many.... Best, R

Back in the GSC saddle again. First - thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your prayers and good thoughts. I'm kinda an old cranky guy so it's a little hard to tell you all; how much I appreciate all of your thoughts, prayers and occasional well deserved roastings. Woke up Saturday with no pain in the hip joints for the first time in 12 years. That was like being in a room that was just too quiet - duino how else to describe it. The wierdest thing is that when I walk there is no more popping noise - LOL - used to keep me company. The MD's at Scripps-Green were absolutely great. We went over everything together and made the 2nd surgery decision together. Hospital nursing staff were the most amazing people on the planet. Hats off to all the nurses who do it right. More stories to come on some of those nurses and what I saw them pull off in the surgery ward. If anyone is an old hacker on here and knows what ICE is (WRT William Gibson) - I'll tell you a funny story about coming out of anasthesia on surgery #2. I won't bore everyone else. Finally - THANK YOU ALL again for all of your prayers and thoughts. Best, D

Sounds just like Lima, Ohio - 1975 - the one and only shower was ice cold but I don't recall honey wagons - only port-a-potties.....

Working for me right now and has all day - odd

Hey Rhino Burning wood is actually mostly carbon neutral - although not entirely depending on how clean the fire burns. However carbon neutral is only part of the picture. It is not CO2 neutral. A long term CO2 consumer has just been destroyed. On the phtyo topic...There are some good sites at Rutger's and LSU that show some very nice phyto and Chlor-A (a type of chlorophyll) work. Try the Coastal Ocean Observing Laboratory at Rutger's and the Earth Scan Laboratory at the Coastal Studies Institute at LSU. To directly answer your comment - the bear of modelling phyto is that a lot of their harmful blooms are based on phosphate point source polution - man made and often hard to identify until the bloom occurs. Regards, RR