Friday, December 19, 2003
How defence contracts work
Part one and part two of a discussion of how defence contracting work make for interesting (for some) reading. Part three will address Dick Cheney's old company directly - read the first two, then wait to see if you have ammo against them....
Now that's a festive tune
"Hark the harried cash tills ring!
Glory to the new bling-bling!
Parents buy brands for their child.
Kids and adults reconciled. "
Glory to the new bling-bling!
Parents buy brands for their child.
Kids and adults reconciled. "
Learning effects
I concur - what a great example:
"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one - to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."
"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -albeit a perfect one - to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."
Oh, those Bible tales
I love it when people save stuff I wanted to link. Andrew Sullivan does the honours -
"GALLOWAY AWARD NOMINEE (for thinly veiled disappointment at the capture of Saddam): "I'm a bit sad that it puts an end to this battle of David against Goliath. We must acknowledge that Saddam Hussein is a cunning, if not a talented leader. He may look defeated, tired, dejected but when you think of all the means deployed to get rid of him, it's just a tremendous achievement to have been able to survive." - BBC listener/viewer, Bernard Franck Dehlinger, Ris-Orangis, France. Where else?"
"GALLOWAY AWARD NOMINEE (for thinly veiled disappointment at the capture of Saddam): "I'm a bit sad that it puts an end to this battle of David against Goliath. We must acknowledge that Saddam Hussein is a cunning, if not a talented leader. He may look defeated, tired, dejected but when you think of all the means deployed to get rid of him, it's just a tremendous achievement to have been able to survive." - BBC listener/viewer, Bernard Franck Dehlinger, Ris-Orangis, France. Where else?"
