SYTYCD Top 20 6/18/13

Really enjoyed the ballroom routine.



LOVED the Top 10 Guys routine to music "Sand".  The dance starts at about 1minute 11seconds... skip the commentary before that.
The sand prop is beautiful.  Reminds me of the dancing water fountains in Las Vegas.  There are some good moves from different genres, and there is strength display.  The costumes are good.  But why do the guys get to wear slacks and a long sleeve shirt when the girls have to wear the crap costume in their group routine??

I HATED the Top 10 Girls routine to music "Let's Have A Kiki".  I've seen better High School JV dance/cheer squad routines.  The costumes sucked.  The music sucked.  The choreography sucked.  It was horrific.

Quote from "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg

"An international report at Hewlett-Packard revealed that women only apply for open jobs if they think they meet 100 percent of the criteria listed. Men apply if they think they meet 60 percent of the requirements. This difference has a huge ripple effect. Women need to shift from thinking 'I'm not ready to do that' to thinking 'I want to do that—and I'll learn by doing it.’” (p.62)

What I learned in High School

Source: dumpaday.com via Jillian on Pinterest

I guess y'all were drugged out during high school or something.

How to do taxes: you save all the financial paperwork that you receive; you buy a program like TurboTax; you follow their guided interview and fill in the boxes by copying from your paperwork; you click send.  How damn hard is that?

What taxes are: Did you not take U.S. Government for an ENTIRE YEAR in 11th grade?  I did.

How to vote: First, you register. We did that in the above-mentioned U.S. Government class in school.  Second, you pay attention to when elections are.  On the day of an election, you look at your voter registration card and you go to your polling place.  While you stand in line, you read over the free sample ballot you were handed.  You check in.  You follow the directions given you by the people who are there to tell you what to do.  You vote.  How damn hard is that?

How to write a resume/cover letter.  Did your high school not a have guidance counselor? Or did you simply fail to make an appointment to get their help? 

Anything to do with banking: Um, we did banking in fifth grade.  Every morning we had to write out a few pretend checks for thinks like utilities and groceries (so we learned how to fill out the check, we practiced how to write out numbers long-hand).  We entered them in our checkbook, we kept the balance up to date (practicing our math).

How to apply for loans for college:  Did your high school not have a guidance counselor?  Or did you simply fail to make an appointment to get their help?

How to buy a car or house:  For a car, you research what kind of car you might want. Go to the website of a few car dealers.  Look at the price of your car... most even have an entry that shows you the monthly payment.  Compare the monthly payment to your income.  If you can afford the car, you either go get a loan from a bank or you get a loan from the car dealer.  A car salesman greets you the instant you turn off your car engine. You tell them what car you want.  You fill out a ton of paperwork that they guide you through.  How damn hard is that?

For a house, you research neighborhoods you might want to live in and you make a list of features you would like if possible.  You pick a realtor and tell them this stuff.  You fill out paperwork that they guide you through (including getting a loan from your bank). You tour a bunch of houses.  When you see one you want and can afford, you tell the realtor.  They help you negotiate.  When you are selected to buy the house, your realtor helps you fill out more paperwork.  How damn hard is that?

If you really paid enough attention to understand pythagorean theorem, then you can do all of the above just fine. 

Snark

Source: gsnvip.com via Lynellen on Pinterest

Dressing in the dark

Poor Emma Watson!  For the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards, she dressed in the dark and did her hair in the dark!

Check out her tragic look in the fourth picture of this slideshow, as she poses with equally tragic Ezra Miller.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/06/showbiz/gallery/mtv-video-music-awards-2012/index.html?hpt=en_t1

Water conservation

With this year's drought causing the midwest farmers so much pain, here are some interesting facts about the amount of water needed to make the food we eat.  Source: Heifer.org magazine and the Water Footprint Network (I guess that's like your carbon footprint).

• Growing a gallon of coffee requires 880 gallons of water.  Growing a gallon of tea: just 128 gallons.
• Growing and producing a gallon of wine requires 1,088 gallons of water; beer: 689.
• It takes 713 gallons of water to produce a single cotton tshirt.
• Half a pound of leather for shoes requires 1,096 gallons of water.
• Paper for a magazine takes about 76 gallons of water.
• A pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water to produce.  So a 1/3 pound burger costs 660 gallons of water.
• A pound of chicken takes 468 gallons of water to produce, and each egg takes 53 gallons.
• A pound of goat meat takes only 127 gallons of water to produce.
• A pound of cheese requires 600 gallons of water; a pound of soybeans takes 216 gallons.
• One pound of Chocolate needs 3,170 gallons of water to make.
• Apples and oranges take less than 20 gallons of water each.

Do you live in the Panem Capitol?

I read the three "Hunger Games" books this week.  Partly b/c the movie is coming out.  I read the first book a long time ago and disliked it.  But I wanted to be able to tell people WHY I was not going to go see the movie: I don't like the books.  Now that I've read all three, I can still say "I don't like the books".  And I will not be seeing the movie.

But let me ask you a philosophical question...

Premises:
1) The barbarity of having children murder each other in the arena was considered prime entertainment for the citizens living in the dystopian Panem Capitol.
2) The Hunger Games books are quite violent.  The movie is also quite violent.  Violent and bloody and gory enough that the "British censors agreed to give the film a "12A" rating only after some footage was cut."  In America, "The Hunger Games has been rated PG-13 "for intense violent thematic material and disturbing images - all involving teens.""

Intense, violent, disturbing images.

So here's my philosophical question:

If you judge the citizens of the Panem Capitol to be idiots (or whatever word you choose) because they view the Hunger Games as entertainment...

Why the HECK are YOU viewing the intensely violent and disturbing movie as entertainment???

Shouldn't you be applying the same measure of judgment to yourself?  If it's horrible for the fictional characters to find murder entertaining, why are you excited about the film?  You'll be viewing that same murder as a form of entertainment.  So...  what the heck??

Ok, let the flame wars begin, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

"Top Shot" fashion discrimination

This is a screen capture from this week's "Top Shot" episode.  The shirt styles are really irking me.  Why does the female have to wear a shirt that doesn't protect her as much as the man's shirt style?

Notice the man can choose how many buttons he wants to button or unbutton at the neck.  The woman doesn't even HAVE buttons.  So if she wants more sun protection or protection from flying bullet fragments, she has no way of closing up her shirt.

Second, notice the man's shirt sleeves go all the way to his elbows and protect all of his upper arm from sun and bullet fragments.  The woman's shirt only goes half way down her arm.  He can push his sleeves up to adjust the amount of arm to show, but she has no way to bring her sleeves down to protect her skin.

Finally, notice that the man's shirt is a nice square shape, but the woman is forced to wear a "Tailored" fitted style that fits close to her curves.  Even though these are probably somewhat-stretchy knits, the close-fit shirt will be more binding and restrictive of movement than the loose-fit shirt.

ARGH!

9/11 Memorial contingencies

Overall, I think the 9/11 Memorial is pretty neat. I just hope they have plans for dealing with the following:

1) People shoving things into the etched names. So far people have put flowers and flags into the names. I can only imagine what worse stuff will be stuffed in those letters. Especially since there is the cooling system under the brass. How will they clean out gum, trash, coins, etc. that people shove into the etched letters?

2) The fountains: how will they deal with the coins tossed into the fountains? How about the idiots who will toss in detergent to make the huge bubble mess, or the dork who tosses in a bunch of dye to change the water color? Are the fountains going to be Irish green on St. Patrick's day?

3) I don't see a way to keep people out of the fountains. It looks pretty easy to climb up on the parapet and then stand on the flat water area and then jump (30 feet) into the pool. Should someone do that, how will they get out?

It's a pretty memorial, I just hope they have thought about how to take care of it so idiots don't ruin it in short order.

Pay gaps

A recent article on Bloomberg, "Higher Pay Not Luring Women to Tech Jobs", By Jillian Berma, caught my eye.

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workers overall earn about 25% more than people in other types of work. Yet STEM women earn 14% less than their male counterparts. We're supposed to be grateful that this is at least better than the 21% pay disparity in other fields.

24% of the people working in STEM are women. That percentage hasn't changed since 2000. In 2009 there were only 2.5 million women employees with a degree in STEM fields compared with 6.7 million men.

Women are about half of the college graduates each year, total. For women who graduate with a STEM degree, only 26% of them go into employment in a STEM-related job. Almost 40% of men with a STEM degree enter into a STEM job.

Something is seriously wrong in the STEM work world.

Having recently interviewed for STEM jobs, with a BS, MS, and PhD in computer science plus over 10 years of experience, I was told that my technical skills were a little weak for what they were looking for. And we wonder why there are fewer women? It's because you doubt women's capabilities. I have graduate degrees that prove I can learn just about anything I put my mind to. And you say my technical skills are weak? Please. I dare you to tell a male PhD that his technical skills are weak.

Runway lessons, STAT!

Pretty Emma needs some red carpet / runway lessons STAT! People magazine has a pictorial of the dresses she has worn to promote the 7.2 HP movie. She appears to have a limited range of poses, all of which are awkward.

Rambling thoughts

When I'm a "benevolent" dictator, here's a few changes I'll make:

1. Reorg the military. If it flies, its Air Force (no more army helicopters or navy c130s). If it's in/under the water, it's Navy. Everything else is Army (Marines become Army). Except, ALL special forces groups will become Marines. Navy SEALS will now be Marine SEALs. Delta Team = Marines. The Marines will consist exclusively of special forces teams. If they need a helicopter for a mission, they'll have to cooperate with the Air Force to get a ride.
2. All highway entrances/exits will be on the right hand side.
3. Every road that crosses a bridge over a highway will also have an entrance/exit at that bridge.
4. No more importing of perishables. This is wasteful. Get to know what's grown in-season in your own country. No more south american strawberries in north american winter. Ditto with roses. It's wasteful to fly them thousands of miles. Learn to appreciate the seasons and delay gratification.

I remember

Yet another package version

So this is a third version of the packaging. 65.4 square meters of product is smaller than the 80 and 86 square meters of the other packages, which at least corresponds to the comparision of 60 regular rolls. Notice the wording change, too. These are "Big" rolls (200 sheets) while the others are "Jumbo" rolls (231 and 250 sheets).

Read labels carefully

At the local superbox store today, I was confronted by these two versions of the same product. I said to myself, "Huh??"

The first reads "30 rolls = same # of sheets as 75 regular rolls" and the second reads "30 rolls = same square feet as 83 regular rolls". But if you don't read carefully, you dont see the sheets vs square feet detail. It just looks like 83 is better than 75. The 83 package is a dollar more than the 75 package. But if you look at the bottom, you see that the cheaper 75 roll comparison package is 86.3 square meters of product while the other more expensive one is 80.4 square meters. So, I return to my previous statement: "Huh?" How is the 6-square-meter smaller version a dollar more expensive? Just because the 83 is bigger than 75? It's the screw-you special: pay more for less product but feel better about it because you're under the delusion you're getting more comparison rolls.

Would HATE working here

This picture is the office space of The Ladders. I would hate working in this sweat-shop format. Can you imagine how noisy it is? Can you imagine how quickly germs spread? YUCK!

Huh?

If I snuck into a country illegally, I would be careful to follow the laws that keep me from being suspected by the police so that they wouldn't discover that I was breaking the law by being there illegally.

So the statement "Most undocumented immigrants follow the laws of the country" is just silly. If you're illegal, then you're not following the laws of the country. Period.

Whales vs Mermaids

To my fellow whales:

Recently, in a large city in France, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym.

It said, "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

A middle-aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern,

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans.) They have an active sex life, get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp.

They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Bering Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs.

They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans.

They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.


Mermaids don't exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human?

They don't have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them, not to mention how could they have sex? Just look at them ... where is IT? Therefore, they don't have kids either.

Not to mention, who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me: I want to be a whale.

P..S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver, and a piece of chocolate with my friends. With time, we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room, it distributes out to the rest of our bodies.

So we aren't heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Good grief, look how smart I am!¨

iPad name

Yeah, iPad isnt a great name. But I'm not impressed with the product either.

What I wanted was a true tablet computer. Could be named the iTab.

But this is not a tablet computer, it's an overgrown iTouch. So let's just call it iTouch XL. What this really is is a competitor for Kindle.

Men's brains and the hiring process

Someone emailed me an article titled "In Job Interviews and Life, Actions Speak Louder Than Words" by Dan Miller.

It says that job interviews are becoming more creative. For example, by asking such questions as "Why are manhole covers round? "How many barbers are there in Chicago?" "If you could be an animal, what would it be?" My instant response to these are..."How is this relevant?"

The article gives several illustrations: "Jeff O'Dell of August Technology often asks candidates out to lunch - and suggests that they drive. "How organized someone's car is provides an amazing indicator of how organized the rest of their life is," he says. O'Dell believes that the best job candidates not only will have clean cars - "no Slim-Fast cans or tennis balls rolling around in the backseat" - but will also excel at the casual conversation in a restaurant. "It's a way to learn the personal side of things - whether or not they have a family, do they smoke, etc." - that doesn't come out in the formal interview."

Again, how is it relevant if my life and car are organized, unless you're hiring me to be an organizer. I am positive that I can have a messy unorganized desk and still get my work done on time and done correctly. I am also sure that unless you're hiring me to have casual conversations with people, by ability to do so is not relevant to the job. Finally, you're hiring me to do a job, not be your friend. So in addition to being illegal to ask me about my family, it's not really any of your business whether or not I smoke. Now, Shaunti Feldhanh (author of "The Male Factor") says that "Generally, especially as you rise through the ranks, no one is incompetent - so it falls to other factors. It's not just talent, because everyone has that." I find this annoying. To me, ability to do the job comes first. I've met (and worked with) too many people who "interview well" but in the end they just can't get anything done.

The next illustration in the article is, "Dave Hall doesn't mind making employee candidates a little more nervous than they already are. Hall, a principal at Search Connection, likes to place want ads that list his company's name but not its phone number; he wants only candidates who'll bother to look up the number. When he's not entirely sure about candidates after their interviews, he instructs them to call him to follow up - and then doesn't return their first three calls. He says he's looking for employees who'll persist through a million no-thank-yous in making recruiting calls." I don't know about you, but I was trained that it is RUDE to call someone more than three times unless it is an emergency. I would consider it UNprofessional for someone to hound after a hiring manager. It looks desperate. In addition, if this person is being hired to make recruiting calls, do you REALLY want the person he recruits because he harassed them to death with call after call?

Fascinatingly, this article was written by a man and cites only examples of male hiring managers. I wonder just how different this article would be if written by a woman and using examples from women hiring managers.