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Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Title: How do I apply 'Bodoni MT Black' to my Web Page? HTML, of course!
By Patrick Darnell Date: 4/24/2007 6:25:54 PM Word Count: 1185
Introduction: Upstart Crow or Legitimate Language?
This paper introduces HTML as a unique historical development in civilization’s total history of language. It is a hidden language, and pushes ASCII around. As a tool of communication it resembles no other type of alphabet, spoken word or structure, except in its own microcosm of computing. As a newer form of language it is naturally going through trial and error. And, as users experiment with the syntax and logic of its technology, some will hit snags or catastrophes and patch together a new syntax of HTML.
The following discussion is food for thought. If I were proficient in HTML and HTTP, I would link every key word of this paper to its source. But I am not and only just learning.
Task Detail
You and I both would like to determine what the purpose of HTML is. Using research, and citing all appropriate sources, we should come up with a definition of HTML, and determine some historical information about it, and give any other relevant information as to what uses HTML can be put to.
Discussion: Vernacular or Upstart
HTML is after all an acronym. It is one of thousands, no, millions, that have taken to the English language like assimilation is to the Borg in Star Trek TNG.
· Hyper: hidden from the eye, as a code that is over text, it directs and sends the output where the code puts it. Now that is a fabulous concept and pertains to the actual language being prompted by a tag, or abbreviation, written by one man in the beginning.
· Text: transcription was needed to help translate everyday languages to computer languages so output could be recognizable to common-folk all over the globe. Formatting is similar to development in graphics industry since they needed standards for left and right based writing.
· Markup: The documents themselves are plain text files; ASCII, with special "tags" or codes that a browser knows how to interpret and display on your screen.
· Language: As a language: Dead or alive, like Lingua Franca it is a pidgin, (CorrĂ©, Alan D; n.d), a trade language used by numerous language communities around the world, to communicate with others whose language we do not speak.
Yes ASCII with HTML is the first attempt to establish a world language since the destruction of the Tower of Babel. By its original design, HTML was not designed as a formatting tool, yet people have found ways to trick HTML into forming precise web page formatting. And as a language it is borne dead, because dead languages make for unchanging standards over long periods of time.
Thus, “Hyper Text Markup Language is how a web browser displays multimedia documents. The documents themselves are plain text files, ASCII, with special "tags" or codes that a browser knows how to interpret and display on your screen” (Berners-Lee, 1997).

Standards of Equivalence and Conservation for WEB Users
We are all pretty familiar with the terms we are using in this discussion, and terms used in driving in traffic in our car. So let’s take a look at WEB design using HTML and formatting standards as much like transportation engineering. To avoid congestion and collision, standards are made from vernacular that is accepted by end users. In other words a street sign is posted as a standard only after it is accepted by drivers who find it acceptable.
Traffic is controlled by public acceptance. The public has grown to accept customs of safe operations of vehicles on the public highways over a long period of trial and error process. Unfortunately some customs are not met with public approval, and those controls are disbanded, replaced or amended. In the meantime property and persons are damaged in collisions or dysfunctional controls, until the appropriate traffic control is in place.
Why do you think we call it crashes? Drivers in highway traffic and internet users are the same persons.
Yes, the public is the test rabbit. So goes the internet. We have been suffering the microcosm without ample standards for a good fifty years now. And the race toward dominant standards will continue at the public’s expense indefinitely. Creating directional signage and standards for right-of-way are symptomatic of driver habits on the highways. The same principle is found in the traffic of browsing persons in the internet, but it is of less consequence in property damage if there is a mishap. Or is it? This is where we are today with super safe highways:
  • The average number of US traffic fatalities during the 2001 to 2005 calendar period is 42,873
  • We estimate that the next fatality will happen in 10 minutes and 28 seconds
  • If you woke up at 6AM today, we estimate that 15 people have been killed in the US between then and now
  • By the time you get home from work today (assuming you are out of your house from 7AM to 7PM we estimate that 60 persons have been killed in the US in vehicle-related crashes
  • Approximately 120 persons will be killed in vehicle-related crashes per day
  • If flying were like driving: Given that a medium-capacity jetliner accommodates 200 people, this represents 217 airplanes that crash each year. This means, each week, approximately 4 airplanes would crash.
  • (State information provided by The National Center for Statistics and Analysis at NHTSA, 2007)
Public highways are a purely democratic statement, paid for with taxpayer funds. As each uses the streets equally sharing with the next person inability to adhere to standards and be unsafe, or be killed in a misjudged attempt to get around a barrier, makes the traffic dangerous for all.
Standards are very necessary, yet very difficult to establish, that only at first we can treat the symptoms. In my latest version of Defender Pro, I have a list of anti-things all included in this year's upgrade I want to share with you. All these items are sold because of the internet, not despite the internet. Browsers are traffic byways that must have controls, or all these will invade and crash systems:
  • Anti-popup
  • Anti-spam
  • Anti-spy
  • Anti-virus
  • Cell phone anti-virus
  • Firewall
  • ID Theft
  • Parental Control
  • PC Backup
  • Power Up
  • Private Surf
  • Scam Siren
  • Tool Box
...are recommended for small to medium sized business browsing. The anti-virus is updated every two hours, so it claims. It is humming in there as I type right now. That is the future of web browsing if we let developers keep expanding HTML too far. Keep it simple.
Conclusion
Our text author Paul Whitehead concludes, “The job of HTML is to tell Web browsers how to display these elements to the user.” For instance, should one wish a page to display the font as Bodoni MT black? HTML code surrounds the block of text to be Bodoni MT black and that is how it appears on the screen, at the printer, or to another person viewing the page at large.
Using a Web browser that interprets the HTML elements and code is the highway standards that make our creations travel safely across continents into the work-stations of all. Not just an upstart, rather here to stay. (Whitehead, P; 2005) Okay you can all wake up now.
References
Berners-Lee, Tim with Fischetti, Mark, (1997) Weaving the Web, Harper, San Francisco; Paperback: Abridged audio cassette ISBN: 0694521256 and several other languages

CorrĂ©, Alan D, also Bellman, Jonathan: (n.d) A Glossary of Lingua Franca – introduction; A Dead Language, retrieved from uwm edu corre Franca edition2 lingua 2 html; corre uwm.edu

EDWARD DE VERE (May 1989, February 2001) NEWSLETTER NO3, Published by De Vere Press 1340 Flemish Street Kelowna, BC V1Y 3R7 Canada; Robert Greene's Groats-worth of Witte Bought With a Million of Repentence

NHTSA, (2007) the National Center for Statistics and Analysis, of the National Highway and Traffic Safety Assoc, retrieved 24/April/07 from: nrd nhtsa dot gov departments’ nrd-ncsa Avail Inf

Whitehead, Paul and Russell, James H; (2005) Textbook “HTML, your visual blueprint for designing web pages with html, css, and xhtml” Wiley Publishing, Inc, Hoboken, NJ

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Perfunctory, Libertarian: Just Plain 'old Simple

Candice Robertson and filing for a Web Portfolio Publishing
April 16, 2007

I am not a big computer buff. I have been taught several different ways to upload information. I find that it's the simple things that work for me, and I tend to stick with them. For me, the most effective method for organizing and uploading a group of files works in a few simple steps. For the first step of course I have to find the information that I am looking for via research on the internet, or other materials. After using a search engine, or searching directly for what I am looking for, I find the information and make files corresponding to the information that is found. I tend to organize my information using different folders including the type of information that I was searching for.

For example, the pictures of my horses are in a folder labeled “My Steeds”. I save the folder in the My Pictures portion of my hard drive. For pictures of my kids I label my folder “My Babies” and keep that in the same place. Now when it comes to any written information that I may use for research for school, I will create a new folder, label it “Research”, and store it in with the corresponding class that I have already created on my hard drive.

This may seem a little bit strange to those individuals who are big computer people, but this system is one that works for me. It seems simple, painless, and gets me organized in a way that makes sense in my brain.

I upload other bits of information such as music, and store it on my hard drive. These folders that I use to store music are labeled with the artist, filed in the type of music, and stores in the “My Music” folder on my hard drive. I have a great way of storing valuable information that I don’t want to be destroyed, or be erased off of my computer by accident. I use a pen drive also called a zip drive. These little pieces of equipment are the best thing since sliced bread.

I have discovered that I can store a large amount of information on this device that I for sure do not want to be deleted, or lost. My pen drive information is uploaded from the hard drive on my computer. I sort through the information on my computer to figure out what it is that I want to keep, label the files according to the “file system” that I have devised for my other information, and save it.

To make sure that it doesn’t get erased off of the pen drive, I lock it using the lock/unlock switch on the outside of the pen drive. There is an awesome way to compress information that would open up more space on my hard drive. If I were to zip my files, or compress them together, I know that this would open up a lot more space on my hard drive. I just haven’t done this yet. So, this is my simple, yet effective way to uploading and organizing a group of files. (retrieved 17/April/07)

Dear Candice:
I feel a twang on my heart strings as I read your post and threads. I have a special place in my being for all persons using the computer today. Of course I am leading in to my personal reckoning with PC, and all. And yes this is supposed to be semi-humorous...

You see, older folk in their eighties, siblings and children, all appear delusional in many respects, as they have allowed the computer to take on personhood. They sense something is up, but lack motivation to make it their own. I am speaking of the internet and all its microcosmic flair to attract and repel people. I say pick a personal project that you are dying to do, and put it in the machine.

In 1969 I was in my first and last computer math class. In that class it was speculated that glorious developments were just around the next bend. It turns out those developments had to cross the mountains, on elephant back, pulling trains of nobles. But that is another story.

It is not us who are lesser, or destined by a trip on the short busses of life. Evidence shows that all are tripping up in the path to truth on the IT highway. I have found some peace knowing that all that was promised in my 1969 computer class is now coming to be almost 40 years later. But for me I think of the computer as a tool, a simple tool, like a screwdriver.

People are what make it complicated. Like the old saying: "Here is the screwdriver, but you still have to turn the screw." So after 20 + years of feeling like a knucklehead, humiliated by complicated machine languages I could not learn, I moved to the idiot stage. It was then I said "How shall I proceed?"

I found if I gave the PC second class status and made it just another tool in my tool shed, I was happier. That is when my relationship with computing really took off. I began accomplishing lifetime dream projects that were only a dream; they are projects, like labors of love, that I would never have made real without de-personalizing the tool, and personalizing myself.

One major project happening today for me is going to college in the autumn of life and not having to sit around young people who would have anyway disdained my presence.

Okay I think you can understand my drift, and I hope it helps you somehow. Millions of persons are just entering the computer domains, and many have been here since the 60's. Neither group knows for sure where it is going.

That's my story, and I will stick to it. Thanks for being so honest in your statements. Please do not hesitate to write me back, and give me your wit and wisdom. PD

File This!

Organizing Files for Web Portfolio Publishing... a Humbling Subject

Introduction
Unfortunately, as a tool, the entire web is a blow torch in the hand of a chimpanzee.
Amongst differing operating systems, the organization of files for web pages is not too dissimilar from system to system. That is, the root and path are at least not foreign amongst file systems. This paper attempts to outline and discuss the use of folders and sub folders from the very start of the web page development to the end. With upfront harmonious design of file path, web site designers will save time and effort with an eye on the deliverables realized in efficient storage of elements of design. The scope of this statement is gigantic. I have a notion that my input will do very little to bring consensus to the question: “What is the most effective method for organizing and uploading a group of files?”

The ambiguous nature of information about what is best does not stand out for the novice, and I suspect not for the experts either. I am afraid the decision is one made by trial and error. That means someone ‘client’ is going to spend money in failed trials. Also, some service ‘providers’ are going to lose their shirts in liability from errors and omissions. Some claims about file superiority, or machine language utility might not be provable within say 25 years, or the lifetimes of users. So, in hopes to not appear too simple-minded I press on to find evidence of file efficiency.

Task Detail
As the assignments progress, this Discussion Board emphasizes organizing and sending your web pages from one IP to the next, including the group project.
Using all resources at your disposal including:
·Live chat recording
·Internet research
·Textbook --
“HTML, your visual blueprint for designing web pages with html, css, xhtml” (Whitehead, Paul and Russell, James H; 2005)
·Trade Magazines and Journals
·And, everything else

“...determine what the most effective method for organizing and uploading a group of files is. After learning how to utilize the method you’ve chosen, give detailed steps to use this method as the best way to organize your web pages” (CTUOnline; April/2007).
This is my Contribution to the Discussion
The first step in designing any Web site is to define your goals. “Without clearly stated missions and objectives the project will drift, bog down, or continue past an appropriate endpoint. Careful planning and a clear purpose are the keys to success in building Web sites, particularly when you are working as part of a development team” (Lynch and Horton; 2002/updated 5 March 2004)

Unfortunately, as a tool, the entire web is a blow torch in the hand of a chimpanzee. Taken as a whole, user’s belief in the capabilities of the web shows tendency of users’ proficiency go in trendy cycles rather than in logical waves. The web does not care if, or differentiate whether you are a new-comer or a supreme user/designer/guru; opportunity knocks as events in the millions per day for any business on the internet. “Eighty percent of TriGeo customers found surprises in their network in the first hour. You can’t protect what you can’t see,” says TriGeo Network Security (Baseline Mag; February 2000 p48).

Most operating systems make it easy to form tree-styled format of file folders and their sub folders. Windows is simply click and name to create folders and sub-folders in its Explore window. A very good example can be found each time you download a source html web page from the library or a free white paper source, if also in html. Once you have the folder in your possession, look at it in Explore window, and there are all the elements of that page.

With so many examples of windows style folders, there is little motivation to learn about the other systems. Linux, Mac, and UNIX could be more exotic, but not different in intent. The route to tie all the elements together is “in your web page that calls for those images addresses and looks for the address linking the elements and images in all folders” (Whitehead , P; 2005, p 31, para).

The root file folder with your HTML index is the building block of the growing tree of folders and files that follow.
Discussion: Web Servers
Yes, Web Standards can make your site search engine friendlier, reduce bandwidth, etc. “Usability is also very important but in an interview in 2004, usability guru Jared Spool puts everything in perspective:”

“I learned quickly that business executives didn’t care about usability testing or information design. Explaining the importance of these areas didn’t get us any more work. Instead, when we’re in front of executives, we quickly learned to talk about only five things:
1. How do we increase revenue?
2. How do we reduce expenses?
3. How do we bring in more customers?
4. How do we get more business out of each existing customer?
5. How do we increase shareholder value?” (Lynch and Horton; 2002)

The next big question is what the web server Internet Protocol does with our web page folders and sub-folders. The internet is a medium for not only sending text, but all other forms of media with it: graphics, music, streaming video, and what ever else it can. The capabilities increase as each development toward bigger and faster is made in the evolving microcosm of internet access. And what could be more exciting than having the whole medium to one’s self for creative experimentation.

Alert to this: “Nobody cares about you or your site: Really. What visitors care about is solving their problems. Most people visit a web site to solve one or more of these three problems.
1. They want /need information
2. They want /need to make a purchase / donation
3. They want /need to be entertained” (Lynch and Horton; 2002)

If you want the whole world to see your presentations remember: “...design a beautiful web page, loaded with large pictures that may load nicely from your computer, but may be excruciatingly slow by a viewer using a slow modem over a busy network. The net is a busy place and is getting busier every second” (Writing Html; 17-Dec-04).

About Graphics
“The way a web browser displays graphics in HTML format, indicates the location of a graphic-file, in a single format that can be interpreted by different types of computers. For example, when the information in that format is received by your Macintosh computer, the web browser knows to display it as a picture format for Macintosh. However, when that same information is received by your Windows browser it is displayed as a Windows graphic.” Is the simplest the best in all applications? The custom and habits of users past and those just coming on line will justify the continued use of html simplicity (Writing Html; 17-Dec-04).
For instance: “WML, the Wireless Markup Language, is dead today for a good reason: there was no need for this species in the course of web evolution. Even before WML was invented, plain vanilla HTML was created to be media-independent. Not by accident, but by design, because platform-dependence was one of the main problems Tim Berners-Lee tried to solve when inventing the World Wide Web and HTML” (Writing Html; 17-Dec-04).

About Storage
Some elements have a way of repeating in all current and future web site designs. A boiler plate of file folders will serve the designer well in saving some effort. Some software providers put in extra smart ways to keep files in a safe, secure partition all by themselves. The technical jargon is amplified when a novice tries to decipher the functionality of it, though. Some safe storage and partition methods are proprietary to particular industries.

For instance: “...information about a function of the diskutil command resizes Volume that enables a computer user to resize disk partitions without losing data. A user can get an overview of the command and its syntax by typing diskutil resizes Volume in Terminal. This command works only on Intel Macs with hard disks Formatted using the GUID Partition Table format with a journal 1 Hierarchical File System Plus file system. The user must be able to specify which partition he wants to resize to use the resize Volume command” (McElhearn, Kirk; 2007-03).

About Over-Complicated Systems going Standard
Formatting and linking all pages in the web site are ideally considered by the designer in the beginning. He or she can provide redundancy and scalability for the possible growth and evolving e-commerce of his client. “...the article focuses on ways to improve the data filing system of architectural firms. To improve the data exchange of a company, it must be decided what the data is needed for. The need for the data should be communicated to the rest of the design team. The creation and format of the data should have a similar standard” (Moyes, David; 2007-01-19).

About Security and Privacy
Proprietary information can be safe in a tightened file system that provides in the beginning password access or administrator controls. If a set of images or patents are at risk, but necessary for web business, then the designer is upfront with a reserved folder for safe-keeping. “XBRL Continues Its March to the Forefront of Reporting.”

The article reports on the decision of the “U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to change its old filing system into the modern system through eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). XBRL is an interactive form of financial reporting which uses items called taxonomies, to provide analysts the definition of the reported data and not just a piece. XBRL also eliminates errors in companies' financial information. With this, the SEC has now begun to update its reporting system” (Barron, Jacob Business Credit 2007-02 Volume 109 Issue 2 Pages 34).

About Micro Management of Files using Windows in America
In 2007, what I do not have to do anymore:
  • I do not have to use a: floppy disk drive anymore
  • I do not have to format any disk for my E: or D; drives, because they are ready to go
  • I am not limited by dial up connection
  • I am not limited to size of file folders, as now it is easy to compress them
  • What I can now accomplish that I could not in 1986-2001:

I can backup my files with the backup feature in Windows XP:

  • I can easily restore my work
  • I can use my stand alone and/or my server resources, depending on the work
  • I can open multiple tabs in my internet explorer, and review all resources closer
  • I can Blog, publish, advertise, solicit and purchase on the web, anything I can think of
  • I can design a web page and build it into a site, and promote whatever in my own domain rather inexpensively, even with free access to providers sometimes

This is why I place a root folder in the top of my c: drive files on my PC, and use a prefix of “a” such as “a_web_site_07” so it is alphabetically always at the top. The pathway is then always “c:\~\patrickdarnell\documents\a_web_site_07\ ~” for the root folder. If I want to share the folder I would follow a similar logic to put it on the server for others to use. I can control both personal and public access with Windows instructions for if others will add to, read, or modify, and save to the same root always, or else.

Note that a prefix “z” folders tend to go the other way and end up at the end of the long c: drive tree of folders. I plan ahead and name my folders to be concurrent to any future file or folder in the works. I use click and drag to manage the folders. And when it is time I clean the folder so I can zip it and send it to where it should be.

Conclusion: Inconclusive

Sticking to simplest and least complicated file structure is the best answer. Windows and HTML is the choice of the most critical designers today. If a standard is arising it is the html way of filing web sites for distribution with end-users browsing with Windows and Microsoft based Operating Systems and software. Otherwise the micro management of files is still an upstart business, viewed by entrepreneurs as an avenue to patent riches, if their idea is introduced at the right time in the right place.

References

Barron, Jacob; (2007-02) Business Credit Volume 109 Issue 2 Pages 34
Baseline Magazine; (February 2007) the Baseline, Security Q & A, McCormick, John ed-in-chief, interview with Kevin Donnellan, CIO, SAG-PPHP
Lynch and Horton; 2002; retrieved from web style guide com Last updated 5 March 2004
McElhearn, Kirk: (Pub.: 2007-03) Resize Partitions On-the-Fly, Author: Journal: Macworld, Volume: 24, Issue: 3
Moyes, David Pub: (2007-01-19) Improve your filing system, Journal: Building Design Issue: 1754
Vincent Flanders Presents: (1995-2015) Biggest Mistakes in Web Design URL: retrieved from
Whitehead, Paul and Russell, James H; (2005) Textbook “HTML, your visual blueprint for designing web pages with html, css, and xhtml” Wiley Publishing, Inc, Hoboken, NJ
Writing Html; (17-Dec-04: 10:24 AM) URL: retrieved from http www mcli dist Maricopa edu tut index html April 17, 2007

Friday, April 13, 2007

Strategy for Business Health

MooPig_Wisdom said... this is my story to wit, and I'm sticking to it.
I suggest that backyard inventing and garage-based tinkering are the healthiest state of mind.

Entrepreneurs are everywhere in the USA, tinkering. Garage businesses are the backbone of our free enterprise. Over half of business is Home-based in US. What is the first thing a newcomer to the USA does? He and she starts a job, then does a side job for cash, builds a cash flow, then buys a building.

There are plenty of buildings to buy, and with garages for tinkering with business ideas; viola'.

The government has little to offer the beginner. It is after all not a business. Government is a guidance counselor, and I shudder to think more than a few people think it is a panacea for business. Government is a lawyer killing a real estate deal. It is a collector of nickles and dimes.

Besides, there is a lot of slack in government, and slack is what makes us all unhealthy. Mark my words, "Soon they will be mowing lawns and building gizmo's in garages all over Baghdad, just you wait and see." For what was wasted in the Enron bankruptcy, $67 billion, we could have rebuilt Baghdad from the water table up! Lord knows they need water there. Ask Haliburton.

That is what we Americans take to the world; the healthy state-of-mind of Entrepreneur.

The value proposition is that you writers and readers Look at this, and make it sail:

Strategis: "This website has been created to share and present research on Global Value Chains for your benefit. Global value chains, GVC, include the full range of activities that are required to bring a product from its conception to its end use and beyond, e.g. design, production, distribution. The ability of [global] firms, [as entrepreneurs] to integrate and manage, GVC, is key to their future competitiveness and long-term economic viability.

This shift is also having a significant impact on the [North American] economy." http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/engdoc/main.html

That's the Report from the Middle; where the women are strong, men are good looking, and children are all above average.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

If Truth be Told...

Phase One: In Search of A Bonafide Marketing Strategy
Speech by T. A. Muckabout: A Five-Year Plan

My name is Thomas A. Muckabout, the newest Manager of Marketing of IPTCo. I am here to practice despotism and nepotism, pontificate clarity of separatist idioms, especially gender; reverse discrimination, radicalize racism, and deplete division of labor. We will start our week on Sunday, all the while promote 32 hour work week and other miss-useful benefits in new global corporate America.

I will strategize, and extricate while I over sell, then intimidate and pressure workers to set unreachable production goals, let maintenance suffer, and bully the competition. Then the top management will feel pressured to hire fresh MBA’s from all over the country, who under me will strategize to pyramid the profits into bonuses for top management. Then three words for our factories: relocate; relocate; relocate. I will hire accountants to manage the factories, and project managers to run the accounting. I will recruit eager field representatives and send them out with expensive promotions that IPTCo cannot possibly fulfill.

After all that, we will go public with our funds, IPO, appear to climb quickly clinging to a repressed hope, that millions will spend millions to perpetuate our product line. After five years, I will offer my resignation, and will retire from IPTCo with a large percent of stock in my control, that I will use to leverage my position to be on the board of trustees of competing companies. The globe is ours to segment!

At some point, I will be elected to office and practice unlimited spending on programs that promote my philosophy.

Ouch!
Although it is an invitation for an exciting ride, many of us would be reluctant to ride that roller coaster; in context of the example of the forceful fictional candidate above. Many do not realize the potential for absolute corruption by those with absolute power. But, is this character a fiction? Sometimes we find out too late that fiction is not too far away: Truth is stranger than fiction.

The hazard is in loss of benefit in working in corporations run this way.

Owners of companies are desperate after their first three years of asking and begging in finding rudimentary funding, wooing, cajoling, compromising, retailing, micro managing, and not sleeping, to find trustworthy people who can put the quality where the mouth is. Yet putting the marketing into the hands of promotion geniuses may be the last thing the company ever does.

In the world of litigation and lackluster signage, the usual conventions of marketers past are letting companies and patrons down.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Mr. Lemming was Surprised


Subject: The Human Genome


Mr. Lemming was surprised..... and well more significant > > Mr. Lemming was heart-broken to realize that the tragic "leaping" gene > may only skip a generation every eleven or so,


...never really going away.


> With the prospect of needing to start a brand new family, Mrs. Lemming, who had saved herself many times >


...now opted to follow her children into the sea.
by: Rockhard Compostholestoy 2006

Upon this Rocky III, I will place my fat Keester


Dear Unbelievable:

Rocky Balboa... latest Rocky movie is actually very good flick.

Its good to be associated with the Fifty-year-old come back fighter, even though an ex-draft-dodging, former pornstar, Dago, with a movie career that far exceeds J. Wayne's. and a theme song that is known in three galaxies.

If only I could punch, and didn't have this glass jaw... I coulda been a contenda'... ehhh.

Keep those cards and letters coming in. PD

Sergio and Keester Strike Again


Sent: Sun, 11 Mar 2007 6:31 PMSubject: Re: You segovia my barley
...and I'm not kidding!

This goes with "her ptolemy as verbena" as my favorite word jazz of the month. I think a computer picks the words randomly in an attempt to lay down a catch word that will get you to open the junk mail --- but I love some of them.

Oh, and occasionally I do open them and order stuff... which is why I now have a 37" extended Ptolemic polish umbrella that is drug induced to stay airborne 24/7 and a 1% apr mortgage on my apartment (?)

Business Law & Ethics 103
Situation (Not-so hypothetical)

:I came to the office with my son so he could Limewire some music and download it on a company CD, while we eat cookies from the Honor System Box in the lunch room.

Question for the business student -
..." How many laws and ethical standards am I breaking at the same time?"
A) 17
B) 1
C) "there really more like GUIDELINES anyway....."
D) Leave school and run for Congress immediately

I hope you guys are having a nice weekend - are the lilacs still out down there?
>>Segovia and Keester (partners in ring-around-the-collar-crime)

The Big Day

As I walk into the room, I wait for someone to arrive so we can start on this long awaiting journey to succeed into the future. I show up at 8:30 am, the test starts at 9 am, as we all wait for our leader of the pack to show up and pass out the tests, she arrives at 9:30 am. The tests get passed out and depending on what we are working on, we have a certain time limit for each particular test that is assigned for each individual.

My specific test came in the order as Math, Reading and then Social Studies. I first started off taking the Math, which consists of two parts, the first part I was able to use a calculator on for the fist thirteen questions. Then came the second part of the test, which was the easy part, reading the passage and simplifying the answer, not even needing scratch paper for that. For the Math portion of the test, we are allowed thirty minutes per half of each test, I flew by both parts in thirty minutes, but more than confident that I did extremely well.

My reading test consists of twenty-five questions that dealt with reading all of the passage and then answer questions according to the passage that we have just read. For those twenty-five questions, we are allowed thirty-two minutes, I finished that part of the test in twenty minutes. There is a way to get past the time, read the questions first, then skim through the passage to find your answer, it saves a lot of time. I feel I did a little of well on that test.

Now my last test was Social Studies, I did not even pass the Constitution Test in High School, so my first reaction was, if I couldn't do it then , it might be a lot harder now. Well after taking a practice test on the computer to see how I did, my teacher said I was ready to take the actual practice GED test. This test consists of twenty-five questions also, but I had thirty minutes to complete, but only this time, I barely made the time schedule to complete my test. So on this last test, I don't really know how I did, some parts I think I did good on but others, I got stuck on some questions.

Well that is the aftermath story from yesterday, I will further post what my outcome is of all my scores, like I mentioned in the last post, I don't think I would be able to do this if it wasn't for the people that care about me and stand behind me to move forward in life.

Monday, April 09, 2007

One Step Closer


Well, for those of you who don't already know, I have been in school now for just over a month now, studying and trying to get the highest possible score to get my GED. I started off in difficult level, which is pretty reasonable for being out of school for 8 years now, and counting. The easiest way to explain the levels are, first, if you don't know your basics at all, you are definitely in the easy level, then you work up to the medium, difficult, (where I stand), then you have advanced, where people need to be in order to be ready for the actual GED test, or at least for the practice test.

I first stared off in difficult level for all five subjects, as of now I am in advanced for Math, Language, Reading , and Social Studies. The tests I am able to take tomorrow are Math, Language, and Social Studies. I am in High Adult Math levels which averages out to a 12.9+ out of 10. All the others are averaged at a 10 as of right now. So I am pretty confident about doing great tomorrow with the support of my family and everything else that is going for me right now. With the help of the teachers and teacher's aides, these tests, I should pass with flying colors.

When I am done with the final steps of this program , I plan to move on and do something good with my life, the only thing really holding me back from being successful, which is only because it is shown on paper, is my GED. I want to move on and make something of myself and prove to everyone around me that I can do things, which I know that the people close to me, or around me already know I have the capability of doing already without my GED. When I finish up with the whole school thing, I will take my nice vacation that has already been planned, come back home try to figure things out and eventually move closer towards my goals that I want to reach further for in life.

So if you are someone that is close to me, or has been through the whole program, I would really like to hear some feedback on the situation to see how you feel about the whole situation I am going through right now. I would appreciate some positive feedback and some big time motivation for this big test I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

GPS, Golf Carts, Distance to the Hole....and a Whisper

When I was a little boy, my daddy took me to Herman Park where he teed off with three others on a Saturday morning at least once a month. I was his caddy. I pulled the bag cart and tried to keep up, that was my task. I always got to have an Orange Nehi bottled soda at the start of the back nine, at 8:30 in the morning.

Too bad there is no narrative in literature for the years between 1 through 11. That is because all memories from then are in images, and sensations, and pictographs.

Can you relate? Sort of a self-speak, creates fillers when there is little going on upstairs.

So yesterday while I was doing nothing, it popped in my head, "Hey, distances.... to the hole.... which iron? ........GPS!"

"The ProShot Golf Traditional GPS system, in its simplicity, keeps with the traditional mind-set prevalent in the golf industry by keeping the golfer focused on his game. The system steers away from offering the bells and whistles that our competition feels a player needs to play his game, when in fact they only serve to distract a player and ultimately decrease your course?s pace of play.
The ProShot Golf Traditional GPS system is a steering column-mounted unit that is un-intrusive to the player?s line of site. Yardages to lakes, bunkers and other hazards, as well as to the front, center and back of the greens (accurate to within one yard) are readily displayed. In addition, pro tips are also provided to help the golfer make an informed decision of which club to use and what strategy to employ. Golfers can also get their drive distances if they choose. Ultimately, your golfers will leave your course with a more enjoyable overall golfing experience..." (www.proshot.com ).

So I thought I had a brain wave originating faroff away from the distant golf men who whisper to me still through the River Oaks of Houston. Hey I have a new gadget that my golfing friends will want for their plenary golf carts.
I even called Rick, who rebuilds g-carts and asked him if he installs GPS on the carts, "Huh?" he said.
"You know distance to the hole and picking your club?" I said. Then I remembered he doesn't play golf. "Okay, I'll get back to you. I haven't researched it yet."
Who am I kidding?
Well, that was yesterday afternoon. Google came up with about 1,320,000 hits for gps, golf, distances. in (0.12 seconds). So I felt the usual foolish and pound pour idiot with an idea. Can I get a witness?

GIZMODO... more like quasi-gizmodo
The SkyKap Advisor is a GPS-enabled golf cap controlled by voice commands. First you plug it into your PC's USB port and download course maps from SkyKap website. Then you wear the cap out on the links, asking it for information about distance to things such as the pin, water hazards and fairway boundaries, and it whispers the info into your ear.
SkyKap Advisor was just introduced, so there's no information on pricing or availability yet. But if this actually works as advertised, it adds a new layer of simplicity to GPS technology on the golf course. It's like wearing your own satellite-enabled caddy on your head. – Charlie White {Product Page [SkyKap, via GPS Gazette]
says:
SkyKap Advsior -- AKA, brain cancer.
02/08/07 02:09 PM
you-say says:
If you visit their website and click on the news tab, it is all in Latin.
Whiskey, Foxtrot, Tango?
02/08/07 02:42 PM
nickie says:
that's really really weird. The thing will probably explode on you the 1st time you wear it.And then you won't be alive to sue the company.
02/08/07 02:48 PM
1of3Stooges says:
I'm a golfer.This is nuts.
Will it also whisper "you can't reach the green with that 6-iron you orange-and-green-plaid-panted-pansy, better use your 5."
After you dump one in the lake will it whisper "who did you think you were, Tiger Woods?"
02/08/07 05:01 PM
ThongDollarz91 says:
Wanted: a cheaper one that just whispers "Gooo the dissstance..." before each shot like in Field of Dreams.
02/08/07 05:46 PM
Geisrud says:
They better make one with a "PING" logo...
02/12/07 11:47

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

OXYMORON = NOROMYXO = OYOMRXON?

From: Barb Schueman>To: Bob Blayney ; Brent Carlin ; Connie Hayes ; Debbie Pierce ; Jean ; >Steve Blayney
>Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:28 AM

>Subject: Fw: I'm One Of The 55! >Subject: I am one of the 55, are you?

Fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a stragne mnid too. Cna yuo raed tihs?

Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuol't blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch atCmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrodare, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer bein the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raedit whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed erveylteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyastghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

Only FWORAD IF YOU CAN RAED TIHS

Conjecture Analysis: Hey! ...we are still in the microcosm

...at Grandma's Treats ...another Quasi Company
By Patrick Darnell

Privacy ...Internet and otherwise... is this month's topic at your local business owner's networking group meeting. Implementing e-business solutions that protect individual’s privacy have ethical and legal ramifications. Addressing these concerns can be seen as limiting your ability to use the technology of the Internet for the financial gain or for protecting you and others from sharing information that should be kept private. Other business owners have varying experiences with privacy. Discuss the specific advantages and disadvantages of doing ecommerce in 1) an insecure open environment and 2) an overly secure environment. Which would be most appropriate for Grandma's Treats and why?


Mankind and Machine: The Continuation--Security and Privacy in the Age of Electronic Commerce

It is a blend of humankind and machine that makes goals reachable. Neither a person alone, nor remote mechanism, can accomplish a task as well as the combination of human and machine.


Any debate on the well-adapted security system will touch on the following:
Internal – Users/ IT/ Administrators
Growth of computer usage
Security from Hackers breaking into delicate corporate information
Retrieved personal information
ISP systems security
Building security to fit the present budget

Internal Privacy Protocol:
All users of the IT system must be in agreement with the obligations of Privacy.
Each IT company should have some level of ethic guideline, privacy protection, and perimeter security.

Growth of computer usage:
The GAO did a study to help legislators decide how to prepare GSA Advantage for the future. The growth in usage gives an idea how fast the Internet has grown.

From 1998 to 2002, the growth is identified by total sales in IT supplies shipped by GSA. In the year 1998, total is about $5 billion. The year 2005 shows IT sales at about $13 billion. The growth rate indicator in this study is a percentage of 260%.

The GAO, in its Business Strategy Recommendations, said the growth of IT products along with the usual sales, has out distanced the Internet purchase system, called GSAdvantage.
Due chiefly to the lack of a strategic business plan, the Internet has not become a friendly place, even after eight years, to requisition products form the GSA. Most vendors never even tried to go on the system until in 2002, when it became mandatory for them to join.

Security Measures to dissuade Hackers breaking in delicate corporate information:
From the day people started using computers to relay information, there has been the problem of security with computer networks.

Firewalls, perimeter securities, and authentications are all ways of designing a secure environment. Encryption is a little different, it is a way of sending a message to someone with only that person being able to read or understand it.

Buckminster Fuller, a polymath, found that processes and systems defined themselves in synergistic. Synergism is a theory that will be tested in the present business environment. Especially in the E-Business channel, the sum of the total will increasingly be greater than the sum of the parts.

Retrieved personal information
As mentioned in the textbook, there are five privacy principles. They are notice, choice, access, security/integrity, and enforcement.
Notice – Consumers have right to know about any personal info being gathered

Choice – Consumers have final say regarding the use of personal info

Access – Consumers have access and have ability to change personal info captured in files or
Database anywhere

Security/Integrity – Consumers personal info be processed, stored, and transmitted in secure way

Enforcement – Courts back consumers if any of the principles (notice, choice, access,
Security/integrity) are violated

ISP systems security
Company is i.e. Master card; Visa, Discover card and other credit card companies are in the business of security and protection for their customers at the lowest cost. These giant holding companies are a formidable force in the economy today, and tomorrow.

Because many parties using the Internet Service Providers do not want to be the testing soil, the lab animal, of the ensuing age of privacy and security schemes, the majority will be unwilling to participate in privacy protocols.

Notice how long it is taking legislation to become part of the broil of Internet futures. Do the majority of US Senators/ Legislators/ Judges in offices, even know how to turn on their computers?

The law of large numbers indicates to the opinion of this author, the more visits to a Website, the more likely is to be a mishap. Unless one is born a donkey, the flow of bytes is a burden not to be ignored. The byte stream will wholly occupy entire populations, and absorb the attention of all. Commercial Television will simply go away. Modern regional malls will become ruins; noise levels will transcend unbearable.

Who is feeling inadequate in the land of infinite possibilities? There is an idea out there in the future; no one can see it clear enough to identify it. A chance it is a security/ privacy condition is highly probable.

This conjecture is drawn because the opposite is true. Internet Systems are equitable in all transactions, and to stay that way they have to be protected from the Internet.

The computer age has initiated never before seen sharing of personal information. For example, the once revered and protected social security number is nearly a useless implement, today. No individual’s life is today, unsullied by the abuse of the numbers that identify him.

Building security for the future, to fit the present budget
The most important developments in Internet marketing are the converting retail operations into wholesales factory direct operations, almost overnight, throughout the business world. The new variables in the mix are savings from streamlined automated production/shipping processes versus costs implementing the streamlines.

As the middleman disappears, costs savings should offset the cost of investments in Internet Commerce setups.

What is the foremost idea in the heads of consumers? Answer this conundrum, and one may design an equitable, perfect system to carry his business into the next decade. Unknown cost added variables do not repress your budget.

Had successful retailers’ practices for pricing differentials included the eventual selling over Internet? Can fiefdoms exist on the worldwide Internet?

Some indicating Attitudes of modern business people show a movement to push for the E-Commerce phenomenon, despite the Security/ Privacy threat.

“The Computer; It is a translator. It puts the toil of repetitive operations into an art form, but it cannot learn anything from repeating itself. My ideas may differ radically from those of family and coworkers but that doesn’t mean they are wrong. Far from it. I plan to go ahead and test them out on my own time, and record the results.

“Go ahead and accept a dare. My impatience with all the endless conjecture leads me to strike out on my own and actually put the money where my mouth is.

“Sticking with the status quo is not an option, especially with my current take no prisoners mindset. I would rather deal with all kinds of change than feel like I’m in a pit of stagnation.

“What differentiates our company is our focus on the dedication to excellence, the quality and the precision in building profitable business strategies with our clients.

“We exist to provide fresh ideas and effective support in identifying and implementing strategic and operational solutions to world class companies in a New World of business.

“Innovation, in the form of new products, processes, and ways of managing, underpins the growth of productivity that is necessary for a rising standard of living:

  • Innovative capacity is especially important for advanced nations if they are to support higher wages than developing economies that can rapidly imitate.
  • Innovative capacity in a nation or region is heavily rooted in its microeconomics environment, in areas such as the intensity of scientists and engineers in the workforce, the degree of protection of intellectual property, and the depth of clusters.
  • Innovation also holds the key to solving many of the world’s most pressing social challenges such as health care and improving the quality of the physical environment.” http://www.isc.hbs.edu/society.htm

Conclusion

RECOMMENDATION —The research is helpful but inconclusive.

Since the inventing of the printing press, no modern development has brought humanity a new Lexicon, as the secure and private virtual Customer Relations Management available via the Internet. The clock starts now!

Grandma’s Treats requires, today, a state-of-the-art Security system with cautious, strict Privacy Protocol adopted for the company to follow. Spare no expense, plan and expand.

Spin the Winnowing Wheel and Sharpen your pencils: Initial search parameters for finding marketing models suggest that all advertising is crossover technology today. This trend is being funded by monster companies and will continue to grow. Picking one method over another will lesson its effectiveness. I submit the group players find a happy medium between several choices.

As advocate for the group, the CEO should suggest seasonal captures with banner ads, to push in the age fifty and over consumers, during holidays. The group will have been gathering demographic interest in their products from responses to the banners. An investment in software for Target Marketing, using their database, the group can begin to call on the local businesses, and end user companies, in those regions most interested in their products.
Only after good numbers in returns, should the group attempt to invest in cross media advertising, or make a major investment in Search Engine Registration. Then everyone sticks to the plan...


____________ ___NOTES: Google, PayPal, and others
http://www.isc.hbs.edu/society.htm
Clusters are geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, specialized suppliers, service providers, and associated institutions in a particular field that are present in a nation or region. Clusters arise because they increase the productivity with which companies can compete. The development and upgrading of clusters is an important agenda for governments, companies, and other institutions. Cluster development initiatives are an important new direction in economic policy, building on earlier efforts in macroeconomic stabilization, privatization, and market opening, and reducing the costs of doing business.

Microeconomics foundations of economic development are the operating practices and strategies of firms as well as the business inputs, infrastructure, institutions, and policies that constitute the environment in which a nation’s firms compete. Recent research suggests that microeconomics differences account for much of the variation across countries in GDP per capita. The microeconomics foundations of economic development are embodied in the diamond: factor conditions, demand conditions, context for firm strategy and rivalry and related and supporting institutions.

Innovation, in the form of new products, processes, and ways of managing, underpins the growth of productivity that is necessary for a rising standard of living. Innovative capacity is especially important for advanced nations if they are to support higher wages than developing economies that can rapidly imitate. Innovative capacity in a nation or region is heavily rooted in its microeconomics environment, in areas such as the intensity of scientists and engineers in the workforce, the degree of protection of intellectual property, and the depth of clusters. Innovation also holds the key to solving many of the world’s most pressing social challenges such as health care and improving the quality of the physical environment.

http://www.inc-it-now.com/?ovmkt=JTTGKGVMDMHF87IQ7ON3BVH3BS
If you are looking for professional incorporation services, you have come to the right place. Inc-It-Now.com, a Hubco Inc. company, can help you incorporate your Standard Corporation, non-profit, or limited liability Company (LLC). We also sell corporate and notary seals and supplies, as well as registered agent services and corporate (and LLC) kits. Call us at 1-800-443-8177 to speak to one of our knowledgeable support representatives. Get Incorporated!

This web site is secured using a Thawte Digital Certificate. This ensures that all information you send to us via the World Wide Web will be encrypted. Please click on the Thawte Authentic Site Seal which will verify the validity of our Thawte Certificate, and our commitment to your security."

http://www.apmforum.com/asia-business-strategy.php
Global Search for Software Patents. Clue: Is Google on eBay's auction?
All the available money in the world today is simply not enough to buy all the patents at their valuation. A good software patent can generate hundreds of millions in revenues through use and licensing. What, then, is the password to access the software billions? Who has the 'code-next?' Is there a 'road ahead' for the citizens of countries where software patents are denied? Which software-driven business model will swallow the other? Has Google already gone on eBay's auction?

On September 7, 1998, when Google Inc. started its operations in a garage in Menlo Park, California, perhaps the only luxury it could afford was the remote control device for its garage 'office' door! Even with its Google-vision and foresight, it could not have visualized the journey which catapulted Google from the garage to its headquarters in Mountain View, from 3 to more than 3000 employees, and from $100,000 to an $ 80 billion company, in a short span of 7 years.

Starting as a college research project by two graduate students, it evolved into a multi-billion dollar company, with a global market share of 36.5% in search engine industry! Well, it's not a unique story and there are several such examples of successful companies. But the real ingenuity of Larry Page and Sergey Brin - the founders of Google - lie not in just establishing the company but in driving it to a phenomenal success using their judicious mix of unconventional wisdom, angel investments, and strategic use of Intellectual Property Rights.

Could we have ever thought of making billions of dollars from a 'bot' - an intelligent software program which searches for terms matching certain criteria? Here is how bots crawled up in the global mindspace. With the advent of affordable connectivity and faster broadband, millions of potential customers started getting on-line more often, and staying on-line longer; and the Internet, almost suddenly, became a very powerful sales channel.

Simultaneously or consequently, companies also started strutting their stuff on the net with equal zeal. Traffic on the highway to international marketplace was increasing daily. Internet was surpassing the British Empire as the territory upon which the Sun would never set. The concept of 'forever open' was even more beckoning than ye olde 24/7 store. The patent expires in 2017.

Apart from search engine technology patents, Google's intellectual property (intangible assets) include innovative business models and trade marks such as Froogle, Gmail, Ride Finder, Zeitgeist, Blog Spot, etc. We may wonder why Google comes out with so many innovations and seeks to obtain patents and trade marks. The reason is simple: patents give their owners the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention and therefore, the patent-holder can increase profits and remain protected from direct competition. Patents that are used to limit competition are also useful in strengthening a company's position in licensing negotiations.

Microsoft holds general search-related patents which include methods of searching information in directory catalogues; a system for enhancing search area selection; and a method of 'concept-searching' which utilizes Boolean or keyword search engine. Amazon, an on-line retailer, has also claimed a patent that could influence the search-related advertising industry.

http://www.alignent.com/solutions/it/ IT Roadmapping: A Better Way to Manage the Complexity of Technology
Fortune 500 companies and governmental organizations are using road maps to manage complex technology interdependence's and relationships, supplier road maps, software and hardware releases and vendor support plans, connecting the dots to changes as they occur.
Using IT road maps, firms can gain visibility into the plans of hundreds of software and hardware vendors, identifying relationships and interdependence's that are critical to strategic IT planning and business continuity.

For example, large aerospace, logistics and manufacturing firms are tracking major network and telecommunications suppliers such as British Telecom and Cisco to determine how vendors' end-of-life decisions would influence their network infrastructure going forward. IT roadmaps provide a way for companies to reduce their risk and gaining situational awareness about unsupported technology and potential exposures.

Using roadmaps, companies can identify periods for upgrading new versions of software and hardware that have interdependence's and provide insight into how to best support a deployment. Roadmaps provide visibility into what IT architecture, assets and certifications an organization has in-house and how this should change over time to reflect strategic business initiatives.
Learn more about how IT roadmaps can help your organization:
· Identify technology barriers
· Drive technology selection and development decisions
· Identify system requirements
· Be more responsive, faster, to technological change
· Manage technology assets more strategically
· Develop plans that ensure that required technology are available when you need them
· Respond to gaps in product and technology plans

http://www.thedecalogue.com/
Articles, glossary, tools, and downloads, inspired by Dr. Deming and the theory of constraints. http://www.mst-toc.it/
Italy Dictionary of high-tech computer vocabulary http://www.computeruser.com/resources/dictionary/dictionary.html
Annual brief reports by country on trade barriers, foreign investment, government intervention in the economy, and other impacts on what the authors’ term economic freedom. http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/countries.cfm
Is PayPal safe to use?PayPal protects your financial information with industry-leading security and fraud prevention systems. When you use PayPal, your financial information is not shared with the merchant. Once your payment is complete, you will be emailed a receipt for this transaction.

BBB Privacy Certification The information practices of PayPal, Inc. have been reviewed and meet the standards of the Better Business Bureau's BBBOnline Privacy Program. http://www.bbbonline.org/cks.asp?id=20111061155818568 Note: This seal indicates that PayPal is a member of the BBBOnline Privacy Program and in no way reflects any relationship a seller that uses the PayPal service may have with the Better Business Bureau.

The security of your information, transactions, and money is the core of our business and our top priority at PayPal.PayPal automatically encrypts your confidential information in transit from your computer to ours using the Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) with an encryption key length of 128 bits (the highest level commercially available). Before you even register or log in to our site, our server checks that you are using an approved browser - one that uses SSL 3.0 or higher.Once your information reaches us, it resides on a server that is heavily guarded both physically and electronically. Our servers sit behind an electronic firewall and are never directly connected to the Internet, so your private information stays private



Sunday, April 01, 2007

Generalists have a place in Tech... Everyone needs Pedagogy once in a while

Human Resources Introducing Policy for Safety, Health and Security
at The Home Company, THC, By Pat Darnell
March 1, 2007

“Keep on trucking” (Prof Savage, C., March 07/ 58:30; Final Live Chat 10)

Introduction: Task Detail for Quasi-company: The Home Company, THC
As the HR manager responsible for Safety and Security issues, you have been asked to develop a policy that will make sure work environment is safe from a security standpoint, as well as from an injury perspective (CTUOnline; 2007).

You must also incorporate ways to keep your facility secure. You are responsible for a 400-person call-center office in an office tower. You are located on the 10-12th floors of a 20-story building. Use your course materials, the Library and the Internet to complete the following tasks and questions:

  • Identify the key safety issues you would review with SHS analysis
    Design a security process that would work with office tower's Security team to screen employees at ingress/egress.
  • Consider inconvenience to employees as well as safety issues
  • Design a security process that would control the delivery of goods to floors 10-12
  • Monitor the comings and goings of employees onto THC specific floors

Abstract
I am one of four Human Resource Managers at THC. We each have been hired to take over one of the geographical regions. I will be responsible for handling all safety issues and OSHA compliance.

Recently, there was a large turnover rate and we new HR managers have been instructed to create new HR policies for the new Board of Directors. They feel there is a need to upgrade HR policies, but recognize that there must be a reasonable amount of time given for transition.

Primary research is too costly to pursue for the project at this initial stage of development of new policy guides. However, much good work can proceed immediately because much information exists in extensive bodies of knowledge for risk management, compliance, and upgrading policies. Topics such as business continuity, risk assessment, responsibilities and accountabilities of a chief facilities manager/officer, and workplace violence prevention and response will be discussed. To the Security issues I am adding Health and Safety as a precautionary consignment guide as well.

Therefore our task will proceed from general to specific, but will be rooted to long-term continuous improvement. Qualitative summaries in white papers, PDF files and other can be had for little cost via internet. Also, after first drafts are approved, any quantitative research needed can be produced if identified in our initial scope for policy. All research and context is based in following framework, though not limited to these values, according to standards in various control groups for general safety and security in workplace:



  • General population vs. Controlled Sites
  • Localized exposure limits; such as spatial averaging
  • Time averaging
  • Special exclusions; such as exposure to low-power devices at peak exposures

Sources of Assistance
o OSHA Consultation Program
o OSHA Internet Site www osha gov
o NIOSH
o Public Safety Officials
o Trade Associations
o Unions and Insurers
o Human Resource and Employee Assistance Professionals
o OSHA uses lower tier as an; "action level, for example ‘an RF program should exist’”
o ANSI assumes a level that is safe for all
o NRPB says 2-tier is not needed
o ICNIRP justifies lower tier for sensitive, elderly, children, neonates
o DOL uses census to correlate aspects of general conditions of work world

Introduction Risk Assessments and Management
To begin, HR must submit Key issues to review with directors before starting the process:
· What has been Safety Health and Security policy up to now?
· How have policies changed since previous policies were adopted?
· When and why did policies become deficient?
· Who is the stakeholder in policy upgrade?

These queries can be divided amongst the four HR Managers. Corporate Policies are guides that are not always mandatory, even for Safety, Health and Security. Compliance Assistance Tools provide guidance information for developing a comprehensive safety and health program. Although Safety and Health Programs are required by some states, there is no general OSHA requirement for such a program. Risk Assessment and Analysis will provide work schedules for our upgrades.

Our internal risk assessment will determine how our project will look, feel and accomplish protocol. My goal is for Long-term continuous improvement in Safety, Health and Security of all THC workers, visitors, and neighbor tenants at our facilities.

“Act conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable are kinds who do nothing” says William Feather.

Adoption of Framework Design for Safety, Health, and Security Project
Transitions in THC, that have been often spoke of, relate to context of its growth from a family owned business to a Fortune 500 corporate subsidiary. Its new status makes it an asset that home company uses to boost its appeal to investors. Until major safety issues of workplace safety and occupant security occurred in 2001, THC had little reason to delve into betterment of its Safety, Health and Security program. Shift in leadership mandates policy be upgraded.

I will choose adopting this USDOL/OSHA framework for best use of THC funds as we move to accomplish changes in Safety, Health, and Security Policy guide-lines: Please, see: also full list in Appendix One at end --
1. What return on Investment can SHS programs provide?
2. How can safety and health become a part of the way our business runs?
3. What indicators tell me if I’m getting weaker or stronger?
4. What practices are best for assuring lasting success?
5. Who is regarded stakeholder in improved SHS program? (DOL/OSHA; ND)

Critical Processes: Learning about new Threats, Weaknesses, and Opportunities
If we are making a change, we will take time to learn about our up-to-the-minute company, THC, its structural changes, its cultural opportunities and best cost effective way to support things to be accomplished. Also we will have sought out opinions of workers, visitors and colleagues who work with and for us in our tenancy. Informed, learned employees are conforming safety skilled employees who can make logical decisions in instances of distress.

While ultimate decisions are in board of directors’ hands, we will make sure that we listen to what others have to say and then formulate our policy strategies. “Building support and loyalty among the workforce is not made permanent status with only quick hellos and goodbyes,” say the authors at Facilities Net. In context of post-September 11 office space security, I feel all THC employees from VP to frontline have become safety sensitive, and will applaud changes and modifications. I anticipate no problem getting everyone on-board (Facilities Net; 1995-2006).

Discussion: Proposed new Emergency Egress/ Ingress Procedures
Since evacuation 911 reports have been filed, “full building evacuations and use of elevators during emergencies are among sweeping proposals for egress procedures” explains Brandon Lorenz, Senior Editor at Facilities Net (1995-2006). To aid us in this Discussion, I have decided to make Stairwells and Elevators our basis for all new SHS Emergency Policy.

Guess-Estimated occupancy Evacuation loads at THC High-Rise address
The Home Company
Occupies 3 of 20 Floors with common emergency Stairwells

ingress/egress calculation guess-estimated

400 employees At THC= 133+133+134
80 Sq ft / person, estimated 10640sq ft / per floor
20-story total occupants at full capacity=133 persons x 20 floors=2660
Stairwell Size and Capacity of total building % Per codes Percentage of total sq ft according to codes
Evacuation rate: 90 per minute estimated
Est. 30 minutes to evacuate THC Building

According to estimated values the total time it would take to empty a full 20 story building is not less than 30 minutes. Had World Trade buildings been fully occupied, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, has estimated that “it would have taken more than three hours to fully evacuate the buildings. ...28 percent of the occupants would have died because of insufficient stairwell capacity” (1995-2006).

Based on egress/ingress estimates of the workers from and to their work place at THC high-rise address THC is in a good position to hire a Facilities Manager. “Facility executives could one day oversee high-rise buildings that have well-timed full building evacuation plans for non-fire emergencies’” says Lorenz. Hardened elevators and stairwells, plus wider and spaced farther apart will aid in full evacuation while emergency task groups are going in (1995-2006). There is no reason why the following framework can not be taught and learned by every worker at the facility. Please, see: also Appendix Two:

  • Improved evacuation procedures
  • Improved Emergency response
  • Improved Procedure and Practices
  • Continuing Education and Training (NIST; ND paraphrased) (DOL/OSHA; ND)
“There is little agreement about how much time should be allowed for a full building evacuation because the topic is relatively new,” says Ron Klemencic, chairman of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. “Clearly, if you put in 10 stairwells, you could get people out of the building much faster,” he says. “But how fast is fast enough?” The final NIST report on collapse of World Trade Center towers indicated that “overall evacuation rate in WTC 2 was 108 survivors per minute, about 50 percent faster than WTC 1 at 73 survivors per minute” (Klemencic, R; ND).

Our job is to reverse engineer catastrophic occurrences. It is a shared responsibility of tenant, emergency response services and facilities management, even if there is disagreement. To anticipate worst cases regarding how fast a full building evacuation will be our overriding argument for saving lives in emergency. “Elevators, stairwells and evacuation plans will all need major revisions to make full evacuation practical” at THC tenancy and everywhere else (1995-2006).

Discussion: Safe/ Healthy Workplace
On our subject of safety: “Once a group has achieved community, the single most common thing members express is: ‘I feel safe here,’” says M. Scott Peck (Quotes Success; ND). There can be no unhealthier situation more drastic than losing one’s life, literally, while at the work-place. Initially, our first stages of SHS planning at THC, we simply cannot do the learning to obtain all emergency data for all circumstances. We can however concentrate on special areas in winnowing out known injurious conditions. Our injury rate can be lowered with successful staged development of risk management.

For instance, before maiming violence and homicide can have its way, we will have checked with safe workplace standards resources and implement best practices for our employees. I found the following criterion in the “U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2002 web site” and propose it as our framework for initial upgrading safety policies of our work place (DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2006-07):

  • Secure the workplace, install video surveillance, extra lighting, alarm systems
  • Minimize access by outsiders, use identification badges, electronic keys, guards
  • Equip field staff with cellular phones, hand-held alarms or noise devices
  • Prepare daily work plan, and keep a contact person informed of location all the workday
  • Keep vehicles and machinery properly maintained
  • Instruct employees not to enter any location where they feel unsafe
  • Introduce a “buddy system” or provide an escort service or police assistance in potentially dangerous situations or at night
  • Develop policies and procedures covering worker’s right to refuse to provide services in a clearly hazardous situation
  • Adopt special circumstance emergency policy for physically impaired workers (OSHA; 2002)
Again, while we can not review all these criteria in this stage of policy development, we can address the pivotal issues. Agreed, violence in the workplace is a serious safety and health issue. It’s most extreme form, homicide, is fourth-leading cause of fatal occupational injury in the United States. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, CFOI, there were “551 workplace homicides in 2004 in the United States, out of a total of 5,703 fatal work injuries” (DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2006-07)

Discussion: The Planning Skeleton -- Entry, Exit and Emergency Access
Disaster Planning
“Power outages, earthquakes, tornadoes, fires, explosions and terrorist attacks should all be taken into account when violence and emergency evacuation plans are formulated,” according to NIST. Estimates are available that put “6 percent of occupants in the World Trade Center mobility-impaired” (Klemencic, R; ND).

Each kind of disaster has its own special set of circumstances. That is why mobility-impaired occupants can be moved away from a fire or other emergency with relatively little difficulty, but the new term of a full building evacuation due to explosion and power outages that accompany them is much more troublesome evacuation for all and more so for impaired employees.

Therefore, a good start is full disclosure of all tenants with impaired mobility must be accounted for initially, and done without compromising personal rights. “Knowing which occupant is impaired and where he and she are located is key information,” says Klemencic at NIST. This can be done with controlled access of interior spaces, and tracking devices special to impaired occupants. Technology of global positioning and radio frequency identification could serve this grand purpose. Costs of such systems are unknown. Therefore controlling the access points is the better answer initially (Klemencic, R; ND).

Controlling Entry
Emerging methods of knowing where tenants are will be accomplished by controlling entry and exit points via either photovoltaic or biometric readers. Radio frequency identification, RFID, is another method that is actually being added to new issues of US passports. “Optical turnstiles are being used more in large buildings,” says Geoff Craighead, vice president of high-rise and real estate services at Securitas, and chair of ASIS commercial real estate council. “It’s all very well to have card readers at elevators, but if you can’t control piggy-backing at the main access points, then you’re not controlling access at all” (ASIS; ND).

After hours building access will have to be controlled 24/7 at elevators, including freight and service elevators: “Visitors and occupants may need specific permissions tied to their credentials to gain access to certain floors,” says Craighead. In general, our THC facility like other high-rise building lobbies will have become more segmented and compartmentalized. The number of places people and visitors are able to get in or out will be partitioned and limited to only one (Facilities Net; 1995-2006).

Additionally, we will have designated a single entry for mail, packages and large deliveries. Possibly our mailroom will fit better in the scheme if situated at the exterior of our building attached through a breezeway. Personnel from THC will go to the exterior facility and bring all packages and mail to upper floor offices for delivery, much like centralized mailboxes in residential developments and apartments. It protects package handlers and mail-deliverers alike, and does not inconvenience the recipients.

While occupant parking remains near the building, our visitor or public parking will have been located farther away. Regards to underground parking, Geoff Craighead warns that, “Building owners should make sure measures are taken so that the building above is properly protected. There needs to be increased vehicle screening,” he says. “That means putting mirrors or sensors in pathways under the cars as they come in.” Building owners may have to resort to physical inspecting that could include opening trunks or looking under engine hoods (Facilities Net; 1995-2006).

Preventing chemical, biological or radiological, CBR, attack
The danger is that fraught terrorists could dump into air intakes any dangerous agent. Airborne substances will be circulating through the building’s HVAC system in minutes. “To combat that threat, owners are installing CCTV cameras with intelligent video [logical step-by-step problem sensors] on the air intakes,” says Geoff Craighead. “If a video frame is broken by motion, a security staff member is alerted automatically and can determine whether there is danger and, if so, begin evacuation procedures.” This strategy probably would not have prevented attack, but it can help speed up response and evacuation.

However, if vulnerability is deemed severe enough, Craighead says, “Some high-rise building owners have undertaken the significant cost of relocating the air intakes out of pedestrian reach at least 75 feet above ground.”

We will also study “defend-in-place procedures... whereas, traditionally, tenants had been trained to evacuate,” says Craighead. “...Seminars show how to defend-in-place, and how to completely seal off floors and structure within a building so no one can get in or out.” It is like a bomb shelter within the workplace, which must take up little space because of the cost of such modification of existing buildings. It would double as storage for supplies most needed in emergency: water, medical supply, and electronics. This could be most ideal for mobility impaired workers to dwell in till the all clear (Facilities Net; 1995-2006).

Conclusion: Adapt, Sacrifice, Justify
A central challenge for a high-rise building tenant and owner both is determining what risks or threats exist for a specific property. Identifying where dollars should be spent to address most urgent vulnerabilities and selecting systems that best mitigate threats will be our most critical challenges. Currently, no regulations or codes exist that govern how building security should be planned and executed.

“That’s because creating security codes would be like creating separate fire codes for each building,” says William Sako, executive vice president of RJA Group and chairman of the board for Sako and Associates.

“We create guidelines that are broad enough so that they’re applicable to Fortune 500 companies, as well as companies with 50 employees,” says Regis Becker, chairman of ASIS guidelines and compliance at PPG Industries. “Security is more an art than a science.” (ASIS; ND)

I suggest THC complete an initial Safety, Health and Security assessment based on the evacuation, violence and shelter in place criteria presented here. With new knowledge we will run more quantitative tests, especially costs studies for net present values of policy modifications. Our short term consideration is: if this is not the location because it is become security challenged or obsolete then we should move to a suitably designed space, or build our own.

Also, gone are the days of “flashing a badge to a security guard at a building’s main entrance,” says Regis Becker. Besides, we don’t want to do nothing. If we have learned anything in Human Resources Workforce Effectiveness this spring:
  • Ignoring high blood pressure, not good;
  • Ignoring high cholesterol, fool-heartedly not good;
  • Ignoring organic brain disease, ignobly not good;
  • Ignoring your human capital productivity, ...starting to be tediously not good;
  • Ignoring a chance to increase our profits for tomorrow by making SHS modifications today, really not good!

“The prizes go to those who meet emergencies successfully,” says William Feather. “And the way to meet emergencies is to do each daily task the best we can” (Quotes Success; ND).

Appendices

Appendix One
· Framework Design Checklist
What Return on Investment can SHS programs provide?
Improved employee morale
Decreased lost time
Fewer workplace injuries and illnesses
Lower insurance costs
Safety culture adoption
How can safety and health become a part of the way our business runs?
Combine performance standards with SHS standards
Talk the talk and walk the walk
Top down support
Bottom up implementation
What indicators tell me if I'm getting weaker or stronger?
Statistical reports
Opinion surveys
Risk analysis
Periodic inspections
Process improvement initiatives
Net Present Value studies
What practices are best for assuring lasting success?
Obtain management buy-in
Build trust
Conduct self-assessments
Develop a site safety vision
Develop a system of accountability and measures
Implement recognition and rewards
Provide awareness training
Implement process changes
Continually measure, communicate results, celebrate successes (DOL/OSHA; ND)
Who is regarded the stakeholder in improved SHS program? “The best Safety and Health Programs involve every level of the organization, instilling a safety culture that reduces accidents for workers and improves the bottom line for managers” says the US Department of Labor. The DOL says to take a modular approach to changing policy. “When Safety and Health are part of the organization and a way of life, everyone wins.” (DOL/OSHA; ND)

Appendix Two
· Stairwells and Elevators basis for new Evacuation procedures proposed by NIST Checklist
Improved evacuation procedures
· Develop public education campaigns to improve preparedness for building evacuations
· Design or modify building to accommodate timely full building evacuation
· Design egress paths to maximize remoteness and to maintain their functional integrity during building emergencies
· Request facility executives and emergency responders develop joint plans and make sure information is transmitted accurately to enhance occupants’ situational awareness during emergencies
· Evaluate alternative evacuation methods, including elevators and exterior escape devices
Improved Emergency Response
· Modify or Install fire-protected and structurally hardened elevators to improve emergency response activities
· Install, inspect and test communications systems to be sure they can be used in buildings with challenging propagation environments and to locate and track emergency responders
· Enhance data gathering, processing and delivery of critical information to emergency responders
· Ensure uninterrupted operation of the command and control system for large-scale emergencies
Improved Procedures and Practices
· Ensure nongovernmental and quasi-governmental agencies not subject to codes obtain code equivalent level of safety
· Adopt and enforce codes to be sure egress and sprinkler requirements are met
· Require building owners to retain documents related to building design, construction, maintenance and modifications at an off-site location and make documents available to emergency responders in hard copy or electronic format
· Clarify the phrase “design professional in responsible charge” to be sure that fire protection and structural engineers provide the standard of care when employing innovative or unusual methods
Continuing Education and Training
· Cross-train architects, fire protection engineers and structural engineers, tenants
· Develop educational tools in computational fire dynamics and thermo structural analysis (OSHA; 2002, verbatim)

References
ASIS; (ND) retrieved from ASIS gov com, March 27-28, 2007, Regis Becker, chairman of ASIS guidelines and compliance at PPG Industries
CTUOnline (2007) Task Detail, HRM350, retrieved 03/2007
Facilities Net; (1995-2006) Trade Press Publishing Corp. Facilities Net, Building Operating Management, Maintenance Solutions registered trademarks of Trade Press Publishing Corp; retrieved 2/23/07 www facilities net the big picture, stormy Friday, Ahrens, Geoff Craighead
Klemencic, Ron; (ND) Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, NIST, retrieved March 23-28, 2007 nist com
OSHA; (2002) U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration informational fact sheets highlighting OSHA programs, policies, or standards, refer to Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations retrieved 4/1/2007 OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov.
Quotes Success; (ND) GOOGLE crawl, Retrieved from walkups way com Quotes Success March 29, 2007, Feather, W; Peck, Scott M contributors
Sako, William; (ND) executive vice president of RJA Group, chairman of the board for Sako and Associates, retrieved www rjagroup March 28, 2007
US DOL, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-07 Edition, on the Internet at www BLS gov/oco/ocos151 htm; visited March 23, 2007
US Department of Labor /Occupational Safety & Health Administration; (1989-2007) Safety and Health Program Management Guidelines; Issuance of Voluntary Guidelines; Notice, Federal Register Vol 54, No 16, Jan. 26, 1989, pp 3904-3916: Retrieved www OSHA gov SLTC etools safety health bibliography March 20-28, 2007; See; Also Curtis, S.L., (Jan. 1995) Safety and Total Quality Management Professional Safety, pp18-20; LaBar, G; (June 1994) Making Safety Pay Occupation Hazards, pp 33-36; Sommerkamp, J; (Dec 1994) the Deming Approach to Construction Safety Management, Professional Safety, pp 35-37


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