It’s a slam dunk

Just so you know:
‘C’est du béton’ est traduit comme ‘It’s a slam dunk’ en anglais.

It would otherwise mean ‘it’s concrete’, or ‘it’s of concrete’.

“Ne vous inquiétez pas, c’est du béton”, aurait répondu Tenet. L’expression “c’est du béton” (en anglais, une métaphore sportive liée au basket, ‘it’s a slam-dunk’) est depuis devenue le symbole des certitudes erronées de l’administration Bush sur le régime irakien.

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A Discriminating Position: Equal Opportunity Employers

I’ve been looking at jobs this afternoon after a bit of prompting from a friend. I’ve been interested in technology and one of my key interests has been as a typical ‘Apple fanboy’. Paint me with that brush. I’ve also somehow diversified in my interests in that I’m also really interested in the financial markets, banking and investment. I don’t have any experience with any of this of course: I’m a student and students by definition don’t have any money. I tell a lie, I do have a little bit of experience, but not something serious. Some years ago, I flirted for about five minutes with the BBC’s Celebdaq game which attempts to act as a fake stock market for the star power of various celebrities, based on media coverage and traffic in selling ‘shares’ in the celebrity and so forth. I tried it, and hated the fact that it was so subjective. I like to really know about a subject so that if I think about actually investing in it I know I’m not being silly. I don’t need to invest in someone like Britney Spears and then find that one fine day she’s shaved her head.

So out of this interest in Apple, and an interest in investments and stocks, I end up reading quite a lot of financial news. One of the companies that is best known in the analyst sector is IDC, a data analysis firm that offers guidance to investors on market trends in much the same was as others such as Gartner. They collect data or carry out their own research operations and form opinions on their findings. In looking at their jobs on offer today I found what I think has to be one of the most comprehensive lists of things they absolutely don’t care about in their employees.

I get the impression that they actually just want the best employees and don’t really care about anything else. This is the kind of company I could work for.

IDC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IDC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, ancestry, sexual orientation, disability, handicap, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy-related conditions, or political beliefs.

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‘Army Families’ now a priority in the US

“Top notch care and support of Army Families demonstrate our sincere appreciation and gratitude for their many contributions, and allow our Soldiers to fully concentrate on the fight and focus on their duties.

“Effective immediately, the word ‘Families’ will be capitalized in all Army correspondence. Please ensure wide dissemination of this change. Thanks for your continued efforts to do all you can to provide steadfast support to our Army Families.”

Also, Extended Tours, Multiple Deployments, Shortened Home Leave and Other Words Will Be Capitalized From Time To Time, As Deemed Necessary. via A Kamen in Washington Post

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Just deserts? Seal Hunters in Danger

Hunters in the annual seal massacre that has a quota for killing 270,000 seals per year in north east Canada have over the last couple days become stranded and cut off from aid because of forceful ice flows and bad weather conditions. Perhaps it’s a message to stop killing wild animals? I hate the seal cull. Plus, calling it a ‘cull’ implies that there are somehow too many seals. There aren’t too many seals. They’ve only just recovered from the brink of extinction. How many animals must we kill just to allow for human overpopulation of the planet. I think this is ridiculous.

Seal killers stranded

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