Day: October 10, 2012

Roelof Kiers Documentary, Part 4

Probably the most NSFW clip yet; features a little song called Penis Dimension.

Some thoughts on politics; as usual Zappa's insights are as relevant today as they were 40 years ago. He discusses Nixon and the buying of elections, and the enthusiasm but questionable efficacy of political protests. And the transformative political power of rock music -- even if just in getting people to loosen up.

Most famously, he observes this: "Progress is not possible without deviation."

And lastly, a good bit with Wild Man Fischer.

I think there's just one clip yet. Tune in tomorrow night for the thrilling conclusion!

Disconnect

If you've ever been laid off, you've probably experienced this: they tell you that your services are no longer required, and then pile a shitload of extra work on you.

The week ending 9/28, I imaged 25 computers and shipped 36. This week I've imaged 42 and shipped 56, and it's only Wednesday. And that's just the upgrades; that doesn't even include the new hires -- because in the immediate aftermath of being told the company can't afford to hire me, of course I am immediately inundated with a bunch of shipping requests for all the new people they're hiring.

Sometimes it's hard to stay motivated. But as I've said before, in the absence of promotion (or even continued work) as an incentive, there's still professional pride and loyalty to the guys I work with. They're not the ones who made the call to lay me off, and they're the ones who are going to have to do my job on top of their own in a couple of weeks. I may as well make that transition as smooth as possible for them.

Plus, if we do huge numbers my last few weeks here and then they suddenly start to fall behind as soon as I'm gone, well, then I've left a handy chart they can show the bean-counters, in the language bean-counters understand best.