Your Flag Is Too Big

Used Car Salesmen. If your flag is at half mast and it's nearly touching the ground your flag is too big. Either buy a smaller one or get a longer flag pole.

go fuck yourself mr cheney

click and listen


A restaurant in northeastern China that advertised illegal tiger meat dishes was found instead to be selling donkey flesh — marinated in tiger urine

scalar weaponry and hurrikens

Meteorologist Scott Stevens in Idaho, claims the Japanese Yakuza caused Hurricane Katrina. Looking at NASA satellite photos of the hurricane, he is convinced it was caused by electromagnetic generators from ground-based microwave transmitters. Retired Col. Tom Beqarden says that the yakuza have scalar weapons

Defense Secretary Cohen's 1997 Warning about Scalar EM Geotechnical Terrorism

“Others [terrorists] are engaging even in an eco-type of terrorism whereby they can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves

Bloody Immigrants

The BBC website has an extensive study on immigration into the United Kingdom. There's a huge amount of data here so if you're interested then go to town. It turns out that 8.22% of the people in my home district (Surrey Heath North) were born outside of the United Kingdom. The highest concentration being from the United States. Bloody Yanks, coming over and stealing all our jobs. Excuse me? I'm where? Oh.

Ants

The undergrads are in the Business School now. There are thousands of them. Generally most undergraduate classes seem to be on the first floor and the MBA classes are on the second floor. The career specialization offices are on the 3rd and 4th floors. There is a big open atrium in the middle of the building so when you come out of class you can look down and see them all milling around like ants. It's strangely fascinating.

Found Him!

Lovely Salome's search for Dick Cheney is over. It turns out he was being rested so he could be full of energy to run the enquiry into what went wrong in New Orleans. My guess is that a lot of blame will fall on the State and City authorities. Just a hunch.

The Great City of Louisiana

Keith Olbermann hits the nail on the head again.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

So it turns out that maybe Dr. Strangelove was right after all. A study by the International Atomic Energy Agency has found that far fewer people have died from the effects of radiation from the Chernobyl accident than previously expected. However, anxiety caused by fear of death and sickness from radiation poisoning is having a serious affect on the mental health of people in the area.

So next time you see a mushroom cloud on the horizon chill out, go outside and take in those lovely gamma rays.

Malice?

From Arthur C. Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

From The Sideshow

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice."

Unlike many people on my side of the political fence I do not believe that this administration is actively trying to do harm. I do however believe this is the most incompetent group in charge of the United States since President Hoover, and maybe even beyond. So I can see how that impression can be formed.

...And Another Thing

These people from New Orleans who are now in Houston, or Dallas, or Atlanta, or Memphis aren't refugees. They're American citizens, and the fact that they are predominantly black and poor doesn't make them any less so. People should expect their Government to be there for them in times of extreme need. That's a major part of its reason for existence. That's why we pay taxes.

Terrorists Explode a Nuclear Device in Downtown Chicago

I said in a comment attached to a previous post that I would write something substantial about the Hurricane and in particular the inadequate response to it.

I can't though. There's just too much.

If you want information overload check out The Daily Kos or Crooks and Liars. Obvious concentrating on the Federal response or lack thereof. Many have claimed that it's unfair to blame the Administration for the terrible response and lack of prepardness. They say that the State of Louisiana (Democratic Governor) and the city of New Orleans (Democratic Mayor) should have prepared better for the event of a Hurricane. There is some truth to that though it doesn't explain the lack of response and preparation in Mississippi.

The answer to these claims though comes from the Department of Homeland Security's own website. It says:

In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility on March 1st for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort.

In April 2001 a hurricane striking New Orleans was listed as one of the three most likely major disasters to stike the United States (Ironically along with a terrorist attack on New York as well as an Earthquake on San Francisco). The point being that for the DHS and FEMA this was an easy one to plan for, it's not like they weren't warned. So now does anyone have any faith in the Federal Government to react to a situation in a location that wasn't so obvious? A suitcase bomb in a major urban area, an attack on a train carrying nuclear waste, or maybe a suicide attack by a small group in order to cause a meltdown at a nuclear power plant. Below is a map showing the locations of all the nuclear power plants in the United States.


Homeland security involves reducing the loss of life after an attack as well as trying to stop attacks from happening and if the government don't have a plan to respond to one of the most predicted disasters on record do you think they'll be able to respond if one of those red dots on the map was attacked, say one next to Chicago?

I don't, but I'm absolutely certain that Michael Chertoff will be able to blame Governor Blagojevich, Mayor Daley, and the people of Chicago for any shortcomings.

Do One Thing And Do It Better

BusinessWeek has an article on it's website and in the magazine concerning niche MBA programs at mid-tier schools (The article needs free registration to read). A large portion of the article concerns U-Wisconsin's set-up and there's a quote from Dean Michael Knetter that he used in his welcome to our class.

"We want to be the school of choice for students who have a clear vision from the outset"

This is absolutely the right way to go. The alternative is to compete with the Harvards, Kelloggs, and Whartons of this world by picking up those who can't afford to get into those schools, or who aren't as attractive as applicants. So as Associate Dean of Emory's Goizueta Business School says

"You need to do one thing and do one thing better than anybody else"

Wisconsin's aim is to have thirteen different specialties that do things better than anywhere else. Nowhere in the country has a better Marketing Research program, or and Arts Administration program, or Real Estate program.

The article also has a graphic that summarizes the pros and cons of creating specialized programs.

I don't see the first and third cons being problems at Wisconsin. The program does not skimp on the basics. The core course includes Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Data Analysis and Decision Making, Operations, Economics, Motivation/Leadership, Strategy, and Ethics. The big difference with other programs is when you sign up for a specialization the vast major of your electives are set. My 'electives' for example will be a mix of experimental design, statistical techniques, and marketing. If I were in Arts Administration they would obviously be different.

Specialization would lead to diminished diversity IF the specializations weren't mixed up for the core courses which is the majority of the first year. My study team for the first semester includes students from Marketing Research (me), Real Estate, Arts Administration, Corporate Finance, and Brand and Product Management. After Christmas I will have a new set of team mates. Also a number of the courses I take in Market Research cross over into other areas. For instance Consumer Behavior with the Brand Management folks.