Dissent among republicans / Disturbing stories / Job Hunting Tips of The Day / Job…

Dissent among republicans

So, now the republicans are opposing the efforts to rebuild New Orleans. Some of the reasons are valid and good: it is not that wise to build the city again several meters below sea level. There is lot of empty space next to New Orleans. Some are fiscal: spending $200+ billion borrowed money on this effort may well be the last straw which breaks the trust of Chinese and others, who financially run USA. And some are outright reckless: claiming that other Americans should not pay for reconstruction is really against the Christian belief. Was it not so, that it is the duty of a Christian to help those contemporaries, who need help? That those who do good deeds and are not selfish, will get surer ticket to the ride to heaven? What? I think, most US "Christians" are cherry picking the bible, using it just to justify their own prejudices and naked greed.

Disturbing stories

Here is a story about brothels in concentration camps, especially from the point of view of the enslaved women working there. It is both interesting and disturbing, but important reading, I think.
Here is a story about the possiblity of civil war in Irag. It is rather disturbing, but may not be that far away. At the same time, support of the war in Iraq has reached it all time low in USA. So, the pullout will suddenly start to make political sense. I am sure that the eventual pullout will happen with as much planning and oversight as there were when starting the war. Back in USA, president Bush has given an open check to reconstruct New Orleans (very good for his friends in Halliburton etc), while at the same time promising not to raise taxes to finance this recontruction. On the contrary, he is trying to cut taxes even further. Even his fellow republican are opposing this - both from fiscal reasons and for non-fiscal (one senator thinks that it is just unfair and unjust for everyone in USA to have to pay for New Orleans, which tells me something about his level of solidarity) (yes, I have links, but they are lost now).

Job Hunting Tips of The Day

From some recruiting service:

Smile - If you don't radiate enthusiasm and energy, then the interviewer is not likely to take much interest in you. If you forget to smile, or if you speak in a monotone voice, sound tired, or walk slowly or with slouched posture, you'll turn off the interviewer immediately, no matter how well you've prepared for the interview, and no matter how effectively you communicate.

So, those with back problems do not need to bother, or those who for some reason walk slower than the interviewer. Are monotone voice and effective communication not mutually exclusive?

Job search continues

I have now applied for many jobs. I am waiting. It may be, that I do not have specific enough skill in order to get a job here in USA. I get the impression from job ads and from talking to friends, who have been here longer, that US employers want to hire employees with very specific and narrow skills. They also do not mind wasting most of the skills of employees, since they apparently have too much money and too little sense. Or then I am confused. Please, enlighten me! Am I wrong, should I cut my hair, should I take my blog off-line, should I start writing about baseball, should I buy a pick-up truck, should I drink Budweiser? Or, is it that nothing helps? (well, I removed the seminaked picture of myself and replaced it with one, in which I look like a chef. See the homepage)
Please help and

On baseball

Ok, let me try to write about baseball. Maybe I will get an job interview by showing that I have popular interests and I am not an incurable old hippie. This is what I think. I think, that rigging the baseball games would be in the interests of the spectators. The reason is simple. The main reasons people go to the games is entertainment and excitement. If we would rig the games so, that they would (individually and as a series) cause the maximum amount of excitement and anxiety (and other desirable psychological reactions) among spectators, each spectator would receive more benefit and according to utilitarian ethics, everyone would be better off. But wait, I think this is what is going on. The only problem (for Red Sox) must have been that they have not paid enough to the rigger and thus they have lost most final games.
The same reasoning applies to all sports. Actually, not rigging any sporting event is against the needs of the stakeholder and thus also against shareholders of the team. Thus, since maximizing share/stakeholder happiness is the only responsibility of all of us, rigging the games is a virtue. (Actually, check Formula-1: as long as Ferrari was winning all the time, the value of the sport went down. Surprisingly, Ferrari is not winning any more...)
Does this qualify as baseball/sports commentary? Or at least as a reasonable sophisticated conspiracy theory?

Daily crono

First time in gym for a long time. I found that I am not as strong as I would like to be. Soon I will be. Later, lunch in Buddha's delight, then running around to get the newest issue of Scientific American. It is a special issues about the future of the world. Later still, napping at home, installing new OS to my Mac (10.4, which is just incredibly great), then meeting with Lavonardo in a pub for a few bees. A nice day, but not as productive as I would liked. Tomorrow will be better, as always. Life is just getting better - I intend to have it so until I am no more.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs from July to September 2005".