Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
Steve Irwin
Tuesday, September 5, 2006
Steve Irwin, RIP
Is there anyone who didn't like Steve Irwin? Nope, didn't think so. Even when South Park made fun of him, you could tell they loved him.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:Steve Irwin
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
Steve Irwin
Employee Performance Reviews
I've worked for enough different bosses to know that a boss who is conscientious about tracking my performance honestly is priceless. One of my best bosses ever took great pains to document the pluses and minuses of my performance in the warehouse, and spent a great deal of time going over them with me. One of my worst bosses ever (this was at the same employer, by the way) just checked off boxes on the annual performance reviews.
If both of my bosses had had ManagerAssistant.com's software for Employee Appraisals and Reviews, they would have become better bosses. The former wouldn't have had to spend so much time looking at varied documents to see how his employees were doing. The latter wouldn't have been tempted to short-change the important boss-to-employee feedback routine.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
If both of my bosses had had ManagerAssistant.com's software for Employee Appraisals and Reviews, they would have become better bosses. The former wouldn't have had to spend so much time looking at varied documents to see how his employees were doing. The latter wouldn't have been tempted to short-change the important boss-to-employee feedback routine.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Les Claypool for President
No, I'm not the graffiti vandal who supports former Primus front man and bassist Les Claypool for president. But if push comes to shove in '08, that's certainly as good a write-in protest vote as any. Seems many Claypool fans agree.
Peace,
Tor
Peace,
Tor
Quadruple Homicide in Newry
The nationally-publicized quadruple homicide in Newry, Maine this past weekend sure won't help the state's tourism prospects this fall and winter. Especially hard hit will be the ski areas.
What surprizes me most about this is that Nielsen felt the need to kill more people to cover up his first murder. Usually, when someone commits murder in a state with a death penalty, there's nothing to lose in committing more murders. In Maine, which doesn't have a death penalty, a guy who's committed four murders is definitely going to have a much harder time ever seeing the light of day than a fellow who's committed one. And committing the extra murders sort of takes away the possibility of copping a plea to manslaughter.
But who ever said murder was the act of a rational soul?
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:murder serial killers
Police today are unraveling a murder spree in Western Maine that appears to have begun with the murder of a man on Friday and claimed the lives of a three women -- including a mother and daughter -- at a bed and breakfast over Labor Day weekend as authorities say the killer tried to cover up his first crime.
What surprizes me most about this is that Nielsen felt the need to kill more people to cover up his first murder. Usually, when someone commits murder in a state with a death penalty, there's nothing to lose in committing more murders. In Maine, which doesn't have a death penalty, a guy who's committed four murders is definitely going to have a much harder time ever seeing the light of day than a fellow who's committed one. And committing the extra murders sort of takes away the possibility of copping a plea to manslaughter.
But who ever said murder was the act of a rational soul?
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
murder serial killers
Political Credit for Maine's Economy
Here's something you don't see in the papers everyday: basic economic concepts expressed clearly. The Bangor Daily News has a piece today about the fact that, tho politicians like to take credit when the economy is booming, they have rarely contributed anything to it.
Here's something you see even less often: a politician who tells it like it is.
Oh, how the current administration makes us long for the days when Maine had a King in office!
The fact is that almost anything the government does will tend to stifle the economy, even if the intent is to support it. This is because the government will try and shore up one sector that has garnered a lot of attention, to the detriment of other burgeoning sectors that will have to fight on an uneven playing field for precious resources from lenders and investors.
Peace,
Tor
Here's something you see even less often: a politician who tells it like it is.
"Angus King got all kinds of credit because he was governor in a time when the national economy boomed and the state economy boomed," University of Southern Maine economics professor Michael Hillard said. "Anybody could have been governor, and the economy would still have boomed."
Former Gov. King agrees. In an interview just before he left office, King said he was lucky to have been governor with a booming national economy that resulted in large state surpluses.
"Our economy operates on decisions made in the private sector," he said. "For most of the time that I have been governor I have been lucky those decisions have led to a strong economy."
Oh, how the current administration makes us long for the days when Maine had a King in office!
The fact is that almost anything the government does will tend to stifle the economy, even if the intent is to support it. This is because the government will try and shore up one sector that has garnered a lot of attention, to the detriment of other burgeoning sectors that will have to fight on an uneven playing field for precious resources from lenders and investors.
Colby College economics professor Michael Donihue said state and local governments focus on what they can do to create incentives to attract new companies. But, he said, the reality is those in the business sector do not spend a lot of time looking at government incentives, nor do they weigh heavily in decisions to locate or expand.
"There is probably not a lot the administration or the Legislature can do to attract new people," he said, "but they certainly can get in the way and create disincentives."
Peace,
Tor
Random YouTube Finds
I always knew there was something horrible about coffee... I guess they're changing the name to Soylent Filipino.
This is the best card trick in the world.
There's something to be said for persistence.
Peace,
Tor
This is the best card trick in the world.
There's something to be said for persistence.
Peace,
Tor
Panama City, Panama
Estelle.tv has a growing number of videos that will help you plan your travels. One of the latest concerns Panama City, Panama. Latin supermodel Estelle Reyna will clue you in on the local sounds, sights and culinary adventures available to anyone who visits Panama City, Panama. (It is very important to reinforce that we are talking about Panama City, the capital of the Central American country of Panama, not Panama City, FL.)
Estelle's accent is very soft, and her English is very clear and easy to understand, so go see the video right now! One fact I gleaned from the video was that the U.S. dollar is the local currency there. That sure makes things easy!
The video also impresses on me that one of the major attractions of Panama City, beyond the great beauty of the landscape surrounding it, is the people who live there. It seems that, since the isthmus of Panama has found itself to be the natural route for wave after wave of travelers over the centuries, the residents there have become some of the kindest and friendliest folks on the planet to foreigners and tourists.
Of course, she's speaking as a Latin American supermodel, so people will tend to be especially friendly to her!
Panama City isn't the only destination that Estelle.tv covers. They have free daily podcasts, and a large online travel video library that includes many U.S. destinations.
For my Maine readers, I even found this video from August 2006 about Fort Gorges, near Portland. That's a trip I'll need to make sometime soon. There's also a general vid about Maine. It does a great job of playing up Maine's natural attractions for all four seasons.
In general, Estelle.tv is a very useful site for those who are planning a trip to any of the best travel destinations in the world.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: historymike, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Planck's Constant, Don Surber
Estelle's accent is very soft, and her English is very clear and easy to understand, so go see the video right now! One fact I gleaned from the video was that the U.S. dollar is the local currency there. That sure makes things easy!
The video also impresses on me that one of the major attractions of Panama City, beyond the great beauty of the landscape surrounding it, is the people who live there. It seems that, since the isthmus of Panama has found itself to be the natural route for wave after wave of travelers over the centuries, the residents there have become some of the kindest and friendliest folks on the planet to foreigners and tourists.
Of course, she's speaking as a Latin American supermodel, so people will tend to be especially friendly to her!
Panama City isn't the only destination that Estelle.tv covers. They have free daily podcasts, and a large online travel video library that includes many U.S. destinations.
For my Maine readers, I even found this video from August 2006 about Fort Gorges, near Portland. That's a trip I'll need to make sometime soon. There's also a general vid about Maine. It does a great job of playing up Maine's natural attractions for all four seasons.
In general, Estelle.tv is a very useful site for those who are planning a trip to any of the best travel destinations in the world.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: historymike, Common Folk Using Common Sense, Planck's Constant, Don Surber
New Oil Deep in the Gulf of Mexico (Open Trackbacks)
This is one of those stories that's both good and bad news. There's been an amazingly large find of new oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico that, if it pans out as "experts" expect (or is that expects expert?), could be on the vanguard of oil finds that would expand U.S. reserves by half.
If this is true, it's obviously a good thing that the U.S.'s dependence on foreign sources of oil would decrease. But there are likely many environmental risks to extracting this oil (the well is in very deep water). Since corporations enjoy their limited liability, if anything went horribly awry, there'd end up being a lot of uncompensated environmental victims in the vein of the Valdez fiasco.
Peace,
Tor
This is this week's 
post. You may trackback on any subject, provided you link to this post. Click on the chicklet for an FAQ on open trackbacks.
Butch Morgan of 123beta pinged us with Tuesday's Best - Round-Up
Tagged as:oil Gulf of Mexico
If this is true, it's obviously a good thing that the U.S.'s dependence on foreign sources of oil would decrease. But there are likely many environmental risks to extracting this oil (the well is in very deep water). Since corporations enjoy their limited liability, if anything went horribly awry, there'd end up being a lot of uncompensated environmental victims in the vein of the Valdez fiasco.
Peace,
Tor
post. You may trackback on any subject, provided you link to this post. Click on the chicklet for an FAQ on open trackbacks.Butch Morgan of 123beta pinged us with Tuesday's Best - Round-Up
Tagged as:
oil Gulf of Mexico
Monday, September 4, 2006
Getting Rid of Fleas
Fleas are a frequent concern at our household. We have three cats, and even tho they are all indoor cats, there's no way to keep the fleas out of the house for good.
If you're in our camp, you can check out this flea control guide. It evaluates the newest products, and provides basic info on fleas and how to kill them.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Tagged as:flea control
If you're in our camp, you can check out this flea control guide. It evaluates the newest products, and provides basic info on fleas and how to kill them.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Tagged as:
flea control
Laptop Stolen from Liberty, Maine Library
News flash from the crime beat of the dark alleyways of Liberty, Maine: a laptop with wireless internet access has been stolen.
And people think I'm hopelessly idealistic for being a libertarian. Librarians are apparently even more naive. These guys waited several weeks to make a stink about a missing laptop, in the hopes that it was just a mistake? I've been known to walk out of a convenience store where I've just paid for a newspaper but forgotten to pay for the gas I've pumped, but I can't imagine walking out of anywhere with a laptop inadvertantly tucked under my arm.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:Liberty Maine laptops libraries librarians
"With several weeks since the theft, we had hoped that the person that took the laptop would have come to their senses and returned it," said Worcester. "The library has received a donation allowing us to offer a $50 reward for any information leading to the return of the laptop and arrest of the individual."
And people think I'm hopelessly idealistic for being a libertarian. Librarians are apparently even more naive. These guys waited several weeks to make a stink about a missing laptop, in the hopes that it was just a mistake? I've been known to walk out of a convenience store where I've just paid for a newspaper but forgotten to pay for the gas I've pumped, but I can't imagine walking out of anywhere with a laptop inadvertantly tucked under my arm.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
Liberty Maine laptops libraries librarians
Ted Murphy and Lucien Bouchard
There's been a lot of speculation around the blogosphere concerning the true motives of Ted Murphy, founder of a startup company that places ads on blogs. Why would he pay bloggers money to write about certain products or services? Isn't there something shady about that? Won't it degrade the journalistic credibility of the blogosphere?
It turns out that Murphy is trying to seek revenge from the mainstream media for his being fired from his internship at a Chinese newspaper more than a decade ago. Since then, he's been on a blacklist and hasn't been able to get respectable journalistic work.
My sources tell me he was responsible for misidentifying a Canadian politician and his wife as serial killers Fred and Rosemary West in a caption in the South China Morning Post.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
It turns out that Murphy is trying to seek revenge from the mainstream media for his being fired from his internship at a Chinese newspaper more than a decade ago. Since then, he's been on a blacklist and hasn't been able to get respectable journalistic work.
My sources tell me he was responsible for misidentifying a Canadian politician and his wife as serial killers Fred and Rosemary West in a caption in the South China Morning Post.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Campaign Signs in Maine
As much as I would like to see campaign signs not clog up the roadways this fall, as one of Maine's gubernatorial candidates has proposed, I suspect that they will. And with good reason.
They work.
They don't provide much more information than a name, an office, a party affiliation, and perhaps a quick slogan. (The most succinct campaign signs I've ever seen in Maine had just one word and a punctuation mark: "Olympia!") No real depth of a candidate's résumé or stands on any issue can be safely imparted through the written word to a driver hurtling along Maine's byways.
But they work.
Years ago, my now-defunct fraternity at one of Maine's liberal arts colleges ran a fictitious candidate for student office. They plastered the campus with signs, and the name came in with a winning tally on election day, without anyone having ever met -- or heard anything about -- the candidate. And this was at a place where the next generation of America's intelligentsia were supposedly being groomed to take their places in important government and corporate posts.
Fortunately for the fraternity, the dean of students had a pretty good sense of humor about the situation. He went along with a staged assassination of the candidate on the steps of the student union.
Peace,
Tor
Linking to the following blog with open trackback posts: Urban Paradise
Tagged as:Bowdoin College Charles Paisley Ken Lewallen ARU Alpha Rho Upsilon Barbara Merrill
They work.
They don't provide much more information than a name, an office, a party affiliation, and perhaps a quick slogan. (The most succinct campaign signs I've ever seen in Maine had just one word and a punctuation mark: "Olympia!") No real depth of a candidate's résumé or stands on any issue can be safely imparted through the written word to a driver hurtling along Maine's byways.
But they work.
Years ago, my now-defunct fraternity at one of Maine's liberal arts colleges ran a fictitious candidate for student office. They plastered the campus with signs, and the name came in with a winning tally on election day, without anyone having ever met -- or heard anything about -- the candidate. And this was at a place where the next generation of America's intelligentsia were supposedly being groomed to take their places in important government and corporate posts.
Fortunately for the fraternity, the dean of students had a pretty good sense of humor about the situation. He went along with a staged assassination of the candidate on the steps of the student union.
Peace,
Tor
Linking to the following blog with open trackback posts: Urban Paradise
Tagged as:
Bowdoin College Charles Paisley Ken Lewallen ARU Alpha Rho Upsilon Barbara Merrill
Sunday, September 3, 2006
Sunflowers in New Orleans
Check out this wonderful meditation on sunflowers in New Orleans by Tim.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:Katrina New Orleans
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
Katrina New Orleans
U.S. Self Storage Directory
If you're moving into a smaller house, going on a long trip and renting out your house, or just plain have stuff that needs to be stored, you should check out a gargantuan online Self Storage Directory - Moving.bz.It's easy to search for storage solutions by city, state or zip code. They have listings for self-storage, mini-storage, climate-controlled storage and portable on-demand storage. You just need to go to this website to get up to four local storage quotes for the service you need.
And that's just the beginning. You will also find listings for many other moving services, including interstate moving companies, moving supplies, international moves, and corporate relocation.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Tagged as:
moving self storage
Cabela, L.L. Bean and Maine Taxes
The brouhaha about whether Cabela's Inc. should be made to collect sales tax on internet or phone purchases from Maine residents if they open a retail store in Scarborough, and their charge that competitor L.L. Bean has gotten a special business equipment tax break that no other firm would currently be eligible for, seems to have become dragged down into a morass of technicalities and political posturing. The opportunity here for Mainers to see this episode as symptomatic of the larger problems facing Maine's economy is slipping us by, as folks choose sides pro or anti Cabela's.
The underlying problem here is that Maine's taxes are just too high for everyone, individuals and businesses, period. When a company from outside of Maine says it will or won't open a retail store in our state based on whether its internet and phone orders would be subject to Maine sales tax collection requirements, you know the requirement is too burdensome. When a Maine company with a long history of profitability and a solid name brand feels the need to have a tax break crafted for it -- a break for which no other company in the state is eligible! -- you know the overall tax burden on businesses is too high.
All Mainers need to look at this controversy and demand that our political leaders make such political standoffs unnecessary. Just lower the tax burden on us all, across the board, so no firm feels the need to look for special favors from the state.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:LLBean Cabela's
The underlying problem here is that Maine's taxes are just too high for everyone, individuals and businesses, period. When a company from outside of Maine says it will or won't open a retail store in our state based on whether its internet and phone orders would be subject to Maine sales tax collection requirements, you know the requirement is too burdensome. When a Maine company with a long history of profitability and a solid name brand feels the need to have a tax break crafted for it -- a break for which no other company in the state is eligible! -- you know the overall tax burden on businesses is too high.
All Mainers need to look at this controversy and demand that our political leaders make such political standoffs unnecessary. Just lower the tax burden on us all, across the board, so no firm feels the need to look for special favors from the state.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
LLBean Cabela's
Online Dell Coupons
If you're looking for Dell coupons for your back-to-school, business or at-home computer purchase, here's where you'll find a good promo code or two. I saw one today for $250 off a desktop system! That's limited to the first 4,000 people who use it, so you'd better go check out the Dell deals soon.Also, check out these other online coupons.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Tagged as:
Dell
Venerable Dr K. Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Maha Thera, RIP
A true giant among contemporary Buddhists is being honored today with a funeral pyre in Malaysia.
An interesting bit from a eulogy:
Peace,
Tor
An interesting bit from a eulogy:
Another characteristic which have defined Chief was how sectors of the Buddhist community have called upon him as their own. He was rector and spiritual adviser to countless societies and associations, from student associations to community centers and welfare home to funeral services. He was embraced all the same by Mahayana practitioners, Theravada Vipassana meditators and Tibetan Lamas. When it came to chanting at a blessing ceremony, he would be equally at home rendering the Mangala Sutta in Sinhalese, Thai or Burmese. Or listen respectfully to verses of the Heart Sutra chanted in Chinese and mindfully observing the Padmasambhava mantra together with his Tibetan brethrens.
"Remember," Chief once said to one of his student, "the Buddha did not teach Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana or Zen. He taught Dhamma-Vinaya, the teachings and the discipline. This is the essence, the root to what it all means to be Buddhist."
Peace,
Tor
A Bhagavad Gita Celebration in Maryland
Here's an interesting story from today's Washington Post about a recent ceremony at a Hindu temple in Lanham, Md.
The main reason I, as an American Buddhist, am calling your attention to an account of a ceremony that honors an extremely important Hindu text is that the text is the Bhagavad Gita, some of whose ideas seem to be Buddhist concepts expressed in Hindu theistic terms. Of course, the overarching theme of devotion to a deity did not have its roots in Buddhism, but the Bhagavad Gita does much to incorporate Buddhist ideas of release from suffering into a Hindu vocabulary.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:Bhagavad Gita
The main reason I, as an American Buddhist, am calling your attention to an account of a ceremony that honors an extremely important Hindu text is that the text is the Bhagavad Gita, some of whose ideas seem to be Buddhist concepts expressed in Hindu theistic terms. Of course, the overarching theme of devotion to a deity did not have its roots in Buddhism, but the Bhagavad Gita does much to incorporate Buddhist ideas of release from suffering into a Hindu vocabulary.
Peace,
Tor
Tagged as:
Bhagavad Gita
Ordering Flowers Online
Fresh Flowers are a growing concern on the internet, if you'll excuse the pun. I've been made aware of a new, London-based florist's website, Serenata Flowers.
This is a well-designed, quick-loading floral site that allows you to quickly find the floral arrangement that suits your purposes.
The sample arrangements you see here are only scratching the surface of the offerings on the site.
The site is organized to help you find arrangements by Sentiment, Occasion, Variety, Style, Color, Type or Price. They also have a wide assortment of other gifts that will nicely complement the floral arrangements.
Peace,
Tor
Tor has been paid to blog about the above topic via PayPerPost. If you are a blogger who would be interested in being paid to blog, please sign up at PayPerPost and fill in tor at torsrants dot com as your referral.
Friday, September 1, 2006
Mixed Results with Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
Slublog is advocating the installation of compact fluorescent bulbs as a way to save energy. He even goes so far as to propose government intervention through tax rebates to encourage the practice.
Actually, they were giving out rebates at the Wal-Mart in Rockland, Maine for compact fluorescents at some point last year, so Rowan and I loaded up on them. They said the rebate money was coming from the state, not the manufacturer, so they needed our NAZ. I don't know if that's still going on. One of the best ones we got was a three-way bulb which we sometimes leave on the lowest setting as a night light, since it gives off more light for the same wattage.
There's a compact fluorescent in our laundry room that started life as my reading lamp bulb fifteen years ago. It was one of the first generation of the bulbs, and is much much larger than the curlycue ones you buy today. It's dimmed to the point that it's not really good for reading, but it's fine for where it is now.
The one set of cf bulbs we bought that disappointed us greatly were ones designed to be used on dimmer switch circuits. They all bit the dust within a few months. And they had cost at least twice as much as the standard cf bulbs. At that rate, they're uneconomical, and likely a worse environmental strain than standard incandescents due to the need to recapture the mercury in them when they're discarded.
Peace,
Tor
Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: MacBros' Place, Woman Honor Thyself
Actually, they were giving out rebates at the Wal-Mart in Rockland, Maine for compact fluorescents at some point last year, so Rowan and I loaded up on them. They said the rebate money was coming from the state, not the manufacturer, so they needed our NAZ. I don't know if that's still going on. One of the best ones we got was a three-way bulb which we sometimes leave on the lowest setting as a night light, since it gives off more light for the same wattage.
There's a compact fluorescent in our laundry room that started life as my reading lamp bulb fifteen years ago. It was one of the first generation of the bulbs, and is much much larger than the curlycue ones you buy today. It's dimmed to the point that it's not really good for reading, but it's fine for where it is now.
The one set of cf bulbs we bought that disappointed us greatly were ones designed to be used on dimmer switch circuits. They all bit the dust within a few months. And they had cost at least twice as much as the standard cf bulbs. At that rate, they're uneconomical, and likely a worse environmental strain than standard incandescents due to the need to recapture the mercury in them when they're discarded.
Peace,
Tor
Linking to the following blogs with open trackback posts: MacBros' Place, Woman Honor Thyself
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