Yumpin’ Yimony! Lordy, I about fainted when I looked at my 401(k) quarterly report. Crap-O-Matic!
Time to suit up and make some adjustments.
Wham! Clank, ting, ting, … whomp!
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Category Archives: Angst
Good Morning, NOLA. Pass Me Some Advil.
The math of Bourbon Street is painfully evident this morning. 1 Hurricane = 1 hangover. The sliders with the hot peppers didn’t help, either. I should probably start thinking about chemistry again. Bourbon Street is a very naughty place. The prospect of beads can cause ordinarily prudent people to expose their anatomy. A fellow can get into serious trouble here.
Speaking of pain, I’m reminded of a recent dinner conversation with an astrophysicist. This fellow is a senior player in the astrophysics circuit. He has been involved in the development and use of many “science packages” that are now hurtling through the vacuum of space.
Like physicists often do, he took delight in reminding me that chemistry is derived from physics. When asked why a chemist was interested in astronomy, I blurted out that I thought there was a goodly bit of chemistry happening in the universe and much for a chemist to try to understand. Between bites of beef medallions and the chomping of his bearded jowls, he shot a patronizing glance over his glasses at me and suggested that it was all ultimately physics.
Ah, a reductionist! Not wanting to make a scene, I let this comment float into the ether where it belonged. But I would offer that if one had a headache and needed to wait for a physicist to invent and make some aspirin, you’d still be waiting.
Russian Oil Production in Apparent Decline
According to an article by Greg Walters at Bloomberg.com, crude oil output in Russia is expected to decrease for the first time in 10 years.
“Two years ago, we said the growth rate was falling, and we said this was bad for Russia, remember?” Trutnev said in televised remarks after a government meeting in Moscow today. “Now we’re saying the production rate is falling this year. This is not a bogeyman, unfortunately, this is real,” Trutnev said, without giving a specific forecast.
The petroleum problem in Russia seems to stem from the lack of investment in exploration in combination with exorbitant taxes on the industry.
Gail the Actuary has an interesting post on the post-peak-oil economy. Gail is a contributor to The Oil Drum Discussions. It’s all kind of gloomy. Time for a nice glass of Bordeaux.
Sigh
What a horrible week. >>>>>>***Sarcastic comment stricken from the record***<<<<< Things have gotten too Machiavellian.
Let’s talk about sunshine and daisies instead: Some things about Th’ Gaussling that may not be widely known- I wear a Mickey Mouse watch, even on business trips, and I am a daily user of a pocket protector. My current pocket protector is emblazoned with the logo “Buca di Beppo”. I’m considering having some Lamentations on Chemistry pocket protectors printed up for distribution from this site.
Email Etiquette- Going Nuclear
A pet peeve I have with my some fellow adult co-workers is their bad habit of excessive cc’ing people on emails. The most pernicious version of this is an email where a list of grievances is sent around with the conspicuous presence of some upper level manager carbon copied, or worse, blind copied.
This habit is a transparent kind of tattle-tale leverage used in the art of persuasion. Once someone has “publically” complained to upper level folks, everyone else has no choice but to opt for CYA. It is like a nulcear weapon- once released, it knocks everyone down. I refer to these situations as “going nuclear”.
People feel that they have to respond in kind. One email escalates to many. Soon, there is a flurry of emails clogging the inboxes of those trapped in this fetid tidal pool. Eventually, the tempest dies down leaving the boss wondering about the judgement and temperament of the staff.
The worst kind of cc is the bc, or blind copy. This method is favored by practitioners of the dark arts. It is a truly reprehensible practice and people who do it should be hunted down like the rabid curs they are and tarred and feathered. Neutered, maybe.
C6D6
Crap. I nearly had a heart attack the other day. Absentmindedly, I burned an NMR in CDCl3 instead of C6D6. The shifts were all cattywompus. The atropisomerism I was expecting from the amide was nearly non-existent in deuterochloroform and my aromatic peaks were all flibbertygibbet. Cripes! This was no good at all!
So, I went to a nearby diner and thought about it over a plate of hashbrowns with onions, jalapenos, and cheese. While gnawing on the breath-busting composition, the problem of solvents dawned on me like an ice cream headache. Doh!!
Send your Gluteal Scan to the FBI
It is hard to believe with all of the “good” news lately that the US gvernment is on our side. The Bush II Y2009 budget proposal comes in at a stunning $3.1 Trillion against an estimated $2.5 Trillion in receipts.
The FBI wants to collect biometric data on US citizens. It wasn’t clear to me as to whether they want to collect this data as law abiding citizens go about their business at airports with iris scans and electronic fingerprints, or if they will limit the effort to people taken into custody. In any case, the notion of our government collecting ever more data on its citizens should bring chills to everyone. It is all about control. Once taken, never returned.
I, for one, would be only too happy to fax a photocopy of my biometric gluteal cleft to the FBI to post wherever it suits them. It shines like a mackerel in the moonlight. In fact, there is a protest movement I could get on board with- The Million Man Moon on Washington.
The Customs and Border Patrol agency has proposed the new “10 + 2” rule which should be a real delite to deal with. We’re already scrambling to figure out what the hell this means for the purchasing people. Lots of detailed info will have to be timed properly to keep things moving through customs. It’s going to be a big mess and the only benefit will be that the government will collect more duties.
Cloverfield
Just back from seeing the movie Cloverfield. Holy cow! Fast and intense flick. Not for dates. Ninety five minutes of home video. NYC trashed by another dyspeptic monster. Creature feature. Angry shrimp-grass hopper hybrids the size of golden retreivers. Rather well done in my estimation. Best seen on a theater screen. Not for little kids- it’ll scare the doo-doo out of them.
GOP Economics- Cash for Election Year!!
It was just announced that Congress and the Whitehouse have reached an agreement that will flood 117 million households (or families) with $600 to $1200 in mad money tax rebates. It supposedly amounts to 150 gigabucks.
Time to invest in Apple and Disney Resorts, because a lot of new iPods are going to be worn on trips to Disney theme parks. Same idea with flat screen TV’s.
Gold sounds like a good choice on which to spend the money.
Warren Buffett and Jim “Mad Money” Cramer see this latest Wall Street fiasco as a rat that will eventually pass through the python.
While Wall Street sorts itself out, the rest of us need to understand what the Finance MBA’s are learning in B-School. The finance geniuses wizards seem to have an endless supply of schemes for brittle financial instruments. Yet another house of cards has collapsed.
Deficit spending and the low value of US currency are huge problems that the GOP should be held accountable for before Bush the Lesser slinks out of DC. Where does Bush think the money will come from with his rebate? Obviously, it’s from the presses at the treasury or debt in the form of T-Bills.
Question of the day: What value does a country that is busy exporting its industry derive from a devalued currency?
The Astute and the Cagey
It is possible to split business organizations coarsely into two camps- Old Testament and New Testament. Old Testament organizations tend to be conservative along all of the organizational degrees of freedom. Employees have conservative mannerisms and dress, decorum is strenuously observed, desktops are always neat and tidy, and the management of personnel tends to be rigid. Lots of complicated rules and no mercy.
New Testament organizations on the other hand, tend to be more tolerant of iconoclasm and Bohemian values. The New Testament company is all about redemption and mercy. Ties are hastily donned for visitors from Old Testament businesses because Friday business casual lasts all week. Startups tend to be New Testament.
New Testament businesses are like friendly Unitarians and liberal Quakers, while Old Testament businesses are like sober Pentecostals and Mormons. One is not necessarily better than the other, though if you are caught in the wrong “denomination”, you are probably very unhappy.
Having once experienced the transition from New to Old Testament management, I can say that it can be a very uncomfortable ride. This transition can cause people to elicit interesting or unexpected behaviour. One of the insights that I have had relates to the manner in which people may engage in discussion or negotiation.
Some business managers are naturally very shrewd or astute individuals. They are able to achieve penetrating insights into relationships and circumstances where others might just see a toothy grin or hear a plausible excuse. After all, even Freud had to admit that sometimes a cigar was just a cigar. But the astute business person may be able to intuit a more creative view.
Sometimes, however, astute is confused with cagey. A cagey manager can be shrewd, but the difference is that a cagey person is one who is fundamentally unwilling to reveal information. Why is this important? Because information is the currency of trust. Information truthfully (and carefully) revealed is what allows relationships to move forward. Information about your intent and interest can go a long way to make a potential customer feel better about the business decision to buy your products.
Cagey managers may go well beyond simple mistrust of everyone. They may also be convinced that they understand what the customer “really” wants or what their real intent is. It is possible for smart people to step across the line and enter a space where they believe they can see what is happening behind the curtain. It is a very dangerous thing for a manager to think he is smarter than the customer.
The time tested optimum path is to take the customers word at face value, even if it means that you will get taken advantage of now and then. Give the customer what they ask for and not what you think they really mean. You can’t fall off the floor.
Lamentations on Chemistry 