Wednesday, January 16, 2013

capitalism and outsourcing one's work

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21043693

16 January 2013 Last updated at 08:50 ET

US employee 'outsourced job to China'

A security check on a US company has reportedly revealed one of its staff was outsourcing his work to China.

The software developer, in his 40s, is thought to have spent his workdays surfing the web, watching cat videos on YouTube and browsing Reddit and eBay.

He reportedly paid just a fifth of his six-figure salary to a company based in Shenyang to do his job.

Operator Verizon says the scam came to light after the US firm asked it for an audit, suspecting a security breach.

According to Andrew Valentine, of Verizon, the infrastructure company requested the operator's risk team last year to investigate some anomalous activity on its virtual private network (VPN) logs.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

greener than kermit ?

http://www.good.is/posts/the-greenest-office-building-ever-seattle-s-new-bullitt-center


Seattle's New Bullitt Center May Be the Greenest Office Building Ever

The new Bullitt Center, currently under construction in Seattle, combines virtually every possible green building technique. The six-story building is entirely powered by solar panels, putting to rest any doubts that solar power only works in sunny climates. It's heated naturally through geothermal wells. And all of the water used in the building comes from something Seattle has no shortage of: rainwater.

Monday, January 14, 2013

robo music

and the 4 armed drummer

so how did he get my boots?

Sunday, January 13, 2013

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/01/11/list-too-long/1o6QU2B2QHs6mvLtxzJfAN/story.html


KEVIN CULLEN

A list far too long

The woman spread some notes out as they prepared to talk about her son, a nice boy who has struggled with behavioral ­issues. Rappaport, chief of developmental medicine at Children’s, noticed that one of the sheets of paper had names on it, listed in three separate columns, with a line drawn through each of them.
“That’s impressive,” Rappaport told her. “You’ve got all your Christmas shopping done.”
The woman looked at him and shook her head. It wasn’t a gift list, she explained. It was a list of the mental health professionals she had called to no avail: Either they weren’t taking new patients, or they wouldn’t accept her insurance.

Woody Allen: fate worse than death

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/hypochondria-an-inside-look.html?pagewanted=all


Hypochondria: An Inside Look

MAUMONT

WHEN The New York Times called, inquiring if I might pen a few words “from the horse’s mouth” about hypochondria, I confess I was taken aback. What light could I possibly shed on this type of crackpot behavior since, contrary to popular belief, I am not a hypochondriac but a totally different genus of crackpot?
What I am is an alarmist, which is in the same ballpark as the hypochondriac or, should I say, the same emergency room. Still there is a fundamental difference. I don’t experience imaginary maladies — my maladies are real.