text:
South Korea's latest big export: Jobless college graduates
Cho Min-kyong boasts an engineering degree from one of South Korea's top universities, a school design award and a near-perfect score in her English proficiency test.
But she had all but given up hope of finding a job when all her 10 applications, including one to Hyundai Motor Co., were rejected in 2016, Reuters reported.
Help came unexpectedly from neighboring Japan six months later: Cho got job offers from Nissan Motor Co. and two other Japanese companies after a job fair hosted by the South Korean government to match the country's skilled labor with overseas employers.
"It's not that I wasn't good enough. There are just too many job seekers like me, that's why everyone just fails," said the 27-year-old, who now works in Atsugi, an hour southwest of Tokyo, as a car seat engineer for Nissan.
"There are numerous more opportunities outside Korea."
Facing an unprecedented job crunch at home, many young South Koreans are now signing up for government-sponsored programs designed to find overseas positions for a growing number of jobless college graduates in Asia's fourth largest economy.
State-run programs such as K-move, rolled out to connect young Koreans to 'quality jobs' in 70 countries, found overseas jobs for 5,783 graduates last year, more than triple the number in 2013, its first year.
Almost one-third went to Japan, which is undergoing a historic labor shortage with unemployment at a 26-year low, while a quarter went to the US, where the jobless rate dropped to the lowest in nearly half a century in April.
There are no strings attached. Unlike similar programs in places such as Singapore that come with an obligation to return and work for the government for up to six years, attendees of South Korea's programs are neither required to return, nor work for the state in the future.
"Brain drain isn't the government's immediate worry. Rather, it's more urgent to prevent them from sliding into poverty" even if it means pushing them abroad, said Kim Chul-ju, deputy dean at the Asian Development Bank Institute.
In 2018, South Korea generated the smallest number of jobs since the global financial crisis, only 97,000.
Nearly one in five young Koreans was out of work as of 2013, higher than the average 16 percent among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In March, one in every four Koreans in the 15-29 age group was not employed either by choice or due to the lack of jobs, according to government data.
Labor mismatch
While India and other countries face similar challenges in creating jobs for skilled labor, the dominance of family-run conglomerates known as chaebol makes South Korea uniquely vulnerable.
The top 10 conglomerates including world-class brands such as Samsung and Hyundai, make up half of South Korea's total market capitalization.
But only 13 percent of the country's workforce is employed by firms with more than 250 employees, the second lowest after Greece in the the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and far below the 47 percent in Japan.
"The big companies have mastered a business model to survive without boosting hiring," as labor costs rise and firing legacy workers remains difficult, said Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University.
Yet while increasing numbers of college graduates are moving overseas for work, South Korea is bringing in more foreigners to solve another labor problem — an acute shortage of blue collar workers.
South Korea has the most highly educated youth in the OECD, with three-quarters of high school students going to college, compared with the average of 44.5 percent.
"South Korea is paying the price for its overprotection of top-tier jobs and education fervor that produced a flood of people wanting only that small number of top jobs," said Ban Ga-woon, a labor market researcher at state-run Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training.
Even amid a glut of over-educated and under-employed graduates, most refuse to 'get their hands dirty', said Lim Chae-wook, who manages a factory making cable trays that employs 90 people in Ansan, southwest of Seoul.
"Locals simply don't want this job cause they think its degrading, so we're forced to hire a lot of foreign workers," Lim said, pointing to nearly two dozen workers from the Philippines, Vietnam and China working in safety masks behind welding machines.
In the southwestern city of Gwangju, Kim Yong-gu, the chief executive of Kia Motor supplier Hyundai Hitech, said foreign workers are more expensive but he has no choice as he can't find enough locals to fill vacancies.
"We pay for accommodation, meals and other utility costs in order not to lose them to another factory," said Kim. Out of a staff of 70, 13 are Indonesian nationals, who sleep and eat at a building next to his factory.
For those who escaped Korea's tough job market, not all has been rosy.
Several people who found overseas jobs with government help say they ended up taking menial work, such as dishwashing in Taiwan and meat processing in rural Australia, or were misinformed about pay and conditions.
Lee Sun-hyung, a 30-year old athletics major, used K-move to go to Sydney to work as a swim coach in 2017 but earned less than $A600 ($419) a month, one-third what her government handlers told her in Seoul.
"It wasn't what I had hoped for. I could not even afford to pay rent," said Lee, who ended up cleaning windows at a fashion store part-time before she returned home broke less than a year later.
Officials said they are making a 'black list' of employers and improving the vetting process to prevent recurrence of such cases. The Labor Ministry also established a 'support and reporting center' to better respond to problems.
Many on the programs lose touch once they go overseas. Almost 90 percent of the graduates who went abroad with the government's help between 2013-2016 didn't respond to the Labor Ministry's requests about their whereabouts or changed their contact details, a 2017 survey showed.
Still, the grim job market at home is driving more Koreans to the program every year. The government has also increased relevant budget to support rising demand — from 57.4 billion won ($48.9 million) in 2015 to 76.8 billion won in 2018, data released by lawmaker Kim Jung-hoon shows.
"The government isn't scaling up this project to the extent we would worry about brain drain," said Huh Chang, head of the development finance bureau at South Korea's Finance Ministry, which comanages state-run vocational training programs with the Labor Ministry.
Rather, the focus was on meeting growing demand for overseas experience given so many graduates are outside the workforce, Huh added.
A hopeful scenario would be for the economy to one day make use of the resources these graduates bring home as experienced returnees, Huh said.
For 28-year-old K-move alumni Lee Jae-young, that feels like a distant prospect.
"The one year abroad added a line in my resume, but that was about it," said Lee, who returned to Korea in February after working as a cook at the JW Marriott Hotel in Texas.
"I'm back home and still looking for a job."


text:
The Bridal Wreath & The Wife, by Sigrid Undset (1920, 1921) E
Reviewer: Emera
Date read: 9.22.2019, 11.21.2019
Book from: Library
This is a review of the first two books in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy: The Bridal Wreath and The Wife. I read the recent translations from the Norwegian by Tiina Nunnally, after giving up on the original translations by Charles Archer and J. S. Scott, which are self-consciously archaic and expurgated significant passages.
In early 1300s Norway, Kristin Lavransdatter is the eldest daughter of a charismatic, gentle, and adoring father, and a distant, melancholy mother. In The Bridal Wreath, Kristin grows from a quiet child into a quietly fiery – and occasionally cruel – young woman, and thwarts her parents' plans for her future by flinging herself into a romance with the passionate but disastrously irresponsible nobleman Erlend Nikulausson. In The Wife, Kristin struggles to live with the guilt of the sins that she and Erlend committed in the course of clinging to their relationship, while now striving to lead her new household – where she is initially regarded with derision – with grace and strength. Her fervent embrace of Christianity serves sometimes as a comfort, and sometimes as one of several wedges between her and Erlend. Meanwhile, foolhardy Erlend is drawn further and further into the turbulent politics surrounding the fate of the Norwegian throne at the time, with eventually ruinous consequences for their family's fortunes.
The way I keep on describing these books (which won the 1928 Nobel Prize) to people is a medieval Scandinavian version of Anna Karenina. They concern themselves with a span of decades in the lives of aristocrats in a severe land, but viewed through incredibly intimate, often stream-of-consciousness renditions of women's experience in particular. The conflict between personal passion and social responsibility, the torment of guilt, the struggle to understand what it is to live a Christian life, hypocrisy, infidelity, the temptation of cruelty, and the closeness of mortality all weigh heavily on the characters. This all plays out against a medieval setting that is rendered so vividly and naturalistically that it seems as if Undset is reporting directly from that century. (It made a lot more sense to me when I read that Undset's father was an archaeologist and her mother his secretary/illustrator: she grew up immersed in history.)
How to describe the effect of these books – what is so piercingly compelling about them? The experience of Undset's cool, fluid, and methodical prose – especially with Nunnally's exactingly clean translation – is immersive, hypnotic, yet, frankly, at times boring. Even though I love nature writing, for example, I was frequently bored during the first quarter or so of The Bridal Wreath, when Kristin is a child, no obvious narrative stakes have been established, and there are lengthy descriptions of their days amid the fields, mountains, seasonal turns, etc.
But as soon as any emotional stakes have been raised – I can't think of many authors who can equal the way that Undset writes emotional pain and difficult love. Her distinct coolness is an asset: she has this devastating way of leading you directly into a character's emotional crisis, and then departing just as the scene barely begins to round off, so that the aftermath must simply be imagined. Or, she mentions devastating revelations about previously beloved characters in a mere one or two sentences, slipping by in the relentless onward march of time. (It "helps" that Undset makes no bones about the closeness of death in medieval times: characters die with great frequency, whether through illness, accident, or violence.)
There are so many moments in the books of purely emotional experience that I feel I'll never forget – the incredibly cold ending of The Bridal Wreath, or the several heart-rending scenes of devotion between Kristin's aging parents in The Wife, or Kristin's pained reflections on how little she understood the depths of her parents' lives, or their love for her.
Again, I'll be honest that I questioned several times (out of boredom, overwhelming melancholy, or both) whether I really wanted to finish the series. But Undset's sort of gentle severity is so uniquely compelling and transportative; again and again, I concluded that I had to see it through, and follow her characters to their ends. I'll be reading the final volume of the trilogy, The Cross, over the next month or two.
Laid Waste, by Julia Gfrörer (2016): review by Emera
Posted on December 18, 2019 December 10, 2019 Author EmeraCategories Book, NovelsTags historical fiction
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
'use strict';

require( './suites/eslint.test' );
require( './suites/core.test' );

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Trans Mission Problem
This actually makes way more sense than the Left wants to admit.
Donald Trump has issued an unsubtle new policy decision on Twitter, which could pretty much be the opening line of every news story we're likely to see over the next four years.
In this case, he announced that transsexuals would no longer be allowed to join or serve in the military, and the Left is going out of its collective mind. This is hatred! Bigotry! Some kind of blatant sexism which is admittedly hard to define!
To which we say: baloney.
We're not going to get into debating whether or not transsexuals are good people or bad people, patriotic or not, or which latrine they should use - because none of that is germane to the argument. What is germane is whether or not transsexuals have medical conditions and special needs which are unduly burdensome when it comes to the military branches completing their missions. And the answer is: yes, they do.
This is the same rationale which keeps many, many others with chronic medical conditions out of the military. And we'll note that this does not keep motivated individuals from finding alternate ways to serve their country or communities.
Despite attempts to make this into a broader LGBT issue, it's worth noting that Trump hasn't banned gays or lesbians from service. He's not concerned about someone's sexual orientation, he's concerned about their physical ability to complete missions - including at times when their medical conditions can't be treated in the field, potentially putting others at risk.
The outrage we're hearing from the media strikes us as nothing more than a tempest in a teapot. Which is somewhat ironic considering it involves individuals who aren't sure if they've got a handle or a spout.
According to the Poopometer, we don't give one.
The military"s mission is to protect us by threatening to or actually killing and destroying things- Social engineering and social justice testing fields it is not.......I want us to perfect the tool we have not add to the problem we may have....
Flack jackets that allow lactating females into the front lines (ask sHrillary about this one- really), special meds, uniforms, regulations, allowances for "special people" to prove a PC point takes away scarce resources to actually .....FIGHT AND WIN a damn war.....
There are plenty of other people who can not enlist and we have not wasted scarce resources to change the entire military for those in much large demographics than less than 1% to accommodate them.
Supporting the military does not necessarily mean enlisting - ask most of our population about that who truly support us but have never served.....And we are truly grateful for their support.....
To both Stilton and REM1875: Roger that!
Here's the thing: we have been bombarded with "facts" that transgender individuals from childhood on are at greater risk for suicide, self-harm, outbursts of rage, etc.; why, then, would we give those individuals weapons and training in the use of said weapons when the military refuses to induct people with a similar psychiatric history?
@REM1875- Very well said.
@Maoz- Thanks!
@Bobo the Hobo- What you're describing isn't anti-Trans prejudice, it's statistical truth. It's entirely possible to be sympathetic to those with this condition while still drawing a few lines that can't be crossed for practical reasons.
FYI... your e-mail link goes to Hope n Change, not here.....
Oh, and I'm really tired of hearing about trans whatever..... They can do whatever they want, until they try and force their way into places they are not wanted nor needed, such as the military.
If that makes me a hater, I can live with that pretty easy.....
Since I believe in facts, I believe there are men and women. I don't understand transgender and, IF there is a small minority who really are gender confused, then they should resolve their condition on their own. Why should the military (taxpayers) pay for confusion. This country has enough problems globally to do it's constitutional job of national security without this silliness.
Apparently, transgender types need continuing dosages of hormones and other medication, which are not in the usual logistical inventory, ESPECIALLY as concerns overseas deployment.
Non-deployable = non-useful.
OUT !
Ruggles said...
Trans gender are about Three Tenths of One Percent of the total population. Why should a vanishingly small segment of the population with a mental condition dictate to the vast majority what is or isnt acceptable ? maybe instead of hormone treatment they should invest in visiting a good shrink
If someone believes they are Napoleon - everyone will agree - they're suffering from some sort of mental problem. But, if they believe they are of a different gender - hell's bells - let's cater to them..
The military is no place for social experimentation, much less should we be paying for 'gender reassignment'.
Personally, I have a big problem with trannys.
Currently mine won't go in reverse.
Certainly wouldn't do well in a military vehicle.
This is another entirely logical action by Trump; and all this outrage does a good thing. I think it also plays some part in his overall strategy.
Outrage over this further clarifies & makes VERY obvious the nut-cakes, idiots, idealists, incompetents, agitators, etc. ranging all the way up to pretty much political whores and traitors for those in responsible position who should know better but still oppose this action and would change it.
As far as I'm concerned the Democrat Party is dead; having become nothing but a bunch of moochers, clowns, sensationalists, and enemies of our nation. I used to respect many of them but can't do that any more. People have a right to liberal opinions but now those with any sense at all had better form a party that at least has common sense. Get away from the liars, cheats and crooks too.
This is not an eloquent post and I salute this edition of Stilton's Place and the earlier comments above for addressing this topic so well.
It is hard to believe these weird folks do not believe there is something wrong with them. Fitting them into normal society, especially stressful situations such as fifty
Arabs trying to kill you does not bode well for those with them. Do you really think that these, uh, would really give their best for their comrades? If we have to have them in the military, I suggest cleaning the facilities is a good fit. Lordy am I tired of hearing about those with different orientations claiming rights that do not and never have existed. Bathrooms? Every pubic building, state, local and federal spending My money so they can pee? Boggles the mind.
rickn8or said...
Never mind right now, what happens 5-10 years down the line when the tranny people migrate to positions of leadership? (And you know they would, otherwise "Sexist!!")
And I agree with REM1875, the military's job is to kill people and break things at the direction of the C-in-C, not serve as a social science petri dish.
As everyone above pointed out, this should be a non issue. If transgender people have a "right" to be in the military, why don't blind people, people 60+ who are currently having trouble making ends meet , the lame, asthmatics, etc. have that same "right" to be in the military?
Air Force wont let me fly jets due to my eyes.
As Stilt points out, flat feet, diabetes, obesity are just a few 'conditions' that DQ a person from service.
Get over it already.
It's not about YOU, snowflake, it's about readiness..
I guess I'm old enough to remember when people acted transgendered to get out of the military.
Let me ask this: Just how wise is it to allow people who over time exhibit a near 50/50 chance of committing suicide to have access to military-grade weaponry?
It seems incongruent to me that the same people who demand that privately owned guns be denied to people who demonstrate any form of mental instability (like merely being conservative, for example) are also demanding that people who have obvious psychological issues be deployed with weapons of mass destruction. Clearly, these people are not big on science.
As @Stilton points out, there's a long list of conditions that will deny you entry into America's fighting forces. The rationale for this should be obvious; they military isn't supposed to be a social welfare organization. Their job is to be ready to kill people and break things, and dealing with with individual cases of gender dysphoria does not forward that goal. It's also maddening to note that this seems to be the priority of many people while countless veterans who have already served and sacrificed in our armed forces are shunted off to waiting lists until they eventually die. Our military has enough to deal with without taking on board people who's lives are already a disaster before the bullets start flying.
Also missing from this debate is the question of just how many people are we talking about here? Out of about 1.5-million personnel in the forces, a couple hundred? Dozens? Does this really warrant the kind of hysteria it's generating?
Or is this really about the pushback that the left is finally getting after over 25 years of converting our military into a grand, dysfunctional parade of Progressive social experiments?
The American Spectator had an great take on the whole transgender movement earlier this month, suggesting that the left has finally jumped the shark. Having successfully shoved so much of it's social agenda down America's throat over the last 8 years, it's possible that they've finally overreached, and the pendulum is on its way back:
"What I'd like to leave you with is this — can there be any more mind-blowing overreach than for the Left to present this to the public? Is this not the exposed flank from which the rout may commence? Let's start asking Democrat politicians if they think straight men are bigots if they don't want to date shemales.
Stop laughing for a second, and think about this. We've now stumbled on what might be the greatest wedge issue in modern American political history. How are they going to answer the question? If they repudiate the transgender movement, they also repudiate the tactic of shaming as intolerant those people who reject the latest fad of social radicalism, and how far back can that be rolled?
But if not, does the entire Democrat Party not fall off the deep end to the disgust and rejection of the American public?"
In other words, "Want more Trump? Because this is how you get more Trump".
The cloying suffocating doctrine of political correctness and social justice warrioring has already gotten people killed in our fighting forces. Remember Major Nidal at Ft. Hood? He openly displayed his support of jihad over a long period of time which ultimately resulted in the murders he committed there. But no, PC did not allow for him to be removed before his murderous rampage. Why have we as a nation let these leftist bastards control us with this insane nonsense? It's time to finally stand up and say "Hell no, NO MORE!!
@porkyspen- Yeah, I messed up the link this morning, although there are worse places to land than in the welcoming arms of Busty Ross. For what it's worth, the links are ALWAYS the same: you can just enter the URL StiltonsPlace.com whenever you want and get here.
And like you, I'm tired of hearing about the trans issues. Doesn't mean I'm entirely unsympathetic, but I do have a sense of priorities and an exhausted sense of patience.
@Judi King- I'd like some real science to back up the claims made by transgenders. It seems distinctly lacking so far, which doesn't necessarily mean it's not out there somewhere. Heck, we don't even know why some people are Gay. But until there is solid science, we shouldn't be fooling around with institutions like the military. And indeed, as I pointed out, even if we're 100% sympathetic to transgenders, they're still medically "high maintenance" and should reasonably be rejected just like others with medical conditions which might impair their ability to perform.
@Alej- I also read that post-transition (ie, after surgery) the new genitalia needs constant maintenance because the body believes it's a wound that should heal back into it's original factory configuration.
@Ruggles- A demonstrably high percentage of transgenders have psychological issues (which is hardly surprising, and which I don't condemn). But again, the military has a hard enough job without needlessly adding problems.
@Tracy Evans- Funny you should mention Napoleon. I believe part of the male-to-female transition surgery consists of taking the Bonaparte. (Okay, I'm going to PC hell for that one...)
@Geoff King- Only French military vehicles need to go in reverse. (grin)
@Rod- On the one hand, it's probably useful for Trump to stir the pot and have us discuss these issues rationally. On the other hand, it's now looking like he may NOT have "consulted with (his) generals" and certainly sprang this policy move on them without warning, creating considerable confusion and disarray which is - in the short term, at least - more distracting and counterproductive than having the transgenders continue to serve.
I do my level best to be supportive of Trump here (as evidenced by today's cartoon and commentary), but damn it, I wish he'd at least let up on the obviously boneheaded and or untrue tweets.
@James Daily- I'm personally willing to stretch the definitions of "normal" quite a bit, even though some folks will only get under the tent flap as "normal-ish." But that being said, the military doesn't need the hassles and headaches.
@rickn8or- You're quite right that such "special" individuals would be fast-tracked into leadership positions rather than have anyone risk their own careers by seeming insensitive. That's how Nidal Hassan kept getting promoted while talking about beheading American soldiers and pouring boiling oil down their throats...before he massacred more than a dozen of them when they were unarmed.
@Alan Mcintire- Exactly. I'm just shy of 65, about 80 pounds overweight, and have the muscle mass of a gummi worm. But I identify as a rip-snorting all-American death machine. That does not mean I should have the right to endanger all those who would be depending on me to carry a weapon more than 50 feet without stopping to wheeze.
@Stan da Man- Perfectly summed up!
@John the Econ- Great post. And yes, I've already seen accusations that straight white guys are bigots if they're uncomfortable dating "chicks with dicks." It seems like the Left just wants to turn all rational thought (and biological realities) into a great, gray soup that they can redefine to their liking at any time.
And I agree, this is how you get more Trump.
@Shelly- Well said!
I have this site book-marked of course, I just happened to use the e-mail link today because lazy. :)
Hope the house shenanigans are going well.....
Whew! Got a late start this morning. Anyhoo, My favorite Uncle who landed on Guadalcanal the day I was born told me, as has been stated here a few times, "The military's job is to kill people and break things". He's also the reason I became a Marine. A transgendered person evidently is confused about weather they are a male, female, or some other entity of living creature past, present, or future. I can envision this scenario; Gunny screams out "Alright you bastards, everyone out of your foxholes and attack". The tranny yells "Oh, drat, I broke a nail. What shall I do?" And that's only one of about a million scenarios I can envision. I don't mind sacrificing my life for my country but I don't want it to be wasted.
Just to add a bit of levity to the topic, here's a great example of the level of intellect that is the vanguard of the Progressive agenda:
. @POTUS Sincerely, did you know of the group you singled out today, 45% of them ages (18 to 24) have attempted suicide already?
Yeah, Lady Gaga. Brilliant point. Just the kind of people we should be giving high powered weaponry to and then inserting into high-stress situations. Tell me, just how many of your private security detail possess this particular psychological affliction?
Hey Stilton,
No sweat about the link, man! I got to see Betsy toady and with all the rest of the wonderful news coming out today, my heart (heh, heh) swelled with pride (really?!).
Thanks for everything you do!
I'm horrified by Trump's ban! I completely sympathize with the transgender folks because I deal with being transage. I am physically 65, but my brain thinks I'm 23. Sarge, where do I sign up! what do you mean, I can't possibly pass the physical?! I'll sue!!
John the Econ said, "I guess I'm old enough to remember when people acted transgendered to get out of the military."
I well remember those days, and the guys who were doing that are likely now the moonbats that are screaming to let transgenders into the military. Remember Phil Ochs:
Sarge, I'm only 18, got a ruptured spleen,
and I always carry a purse.
My feet are flat, got eyes like a bat,
and my asthma's gettin' worse.
And I wouldn't walk across the street to piss on Lady Gaga if she was on fire.
Colby Muenster,
"And I wouldn't walk across the street to piss on Lady Gaga if she was on fire."
Hell, I'd call an ArcLight strike on her and her retinue... and her little dog, too!
More along the lines of Major Nidal: You know the trans is going to be untouchable. Just what every SNCO and Field-Grade Officer dreams of...
Pretty simple. Obama started the trans in the military thing before he left office. That "policy" as was so many of his policies and directives, nothing more than a giant middle finger to Americans. It's like he tried to figure out ways to irritate the hell out of us, flip us big one, and his enablers in the media and democrat party (and about five of the Repubs in the senate and a few more in the house) did what they can to help. I'm talkin' about you ABCCBSMBCCMMAFPReutersAP and so forth. Plus you Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Ms Murkowsy and the gentlewoman from Maine, I think it is. Plus Boener (thank God and greyhound he's gone), plus many others who claim to be on our side but merely lied to us for votes from 2008 on. (Spelling of names may be erroneous, but I don't care enough about them to look them up.)
As for bona fide wimminfolk wanting to go into special operations, they'be been case officers for years in the military and the clandestine civilian service. I wouldn't doubt if some have completed the CIA Operators-type courses, whatever they call it. They should check with CIA and see how women operators are doing there, and maybe join them IF that's really what they're looking for and not juxg badges, buzzers and whistles on their uniforms, or to force a point.
Of course that's "just badges..." not "juxg badges" sometime spelng isn't my strog poyt.
I was on the ship when a seaman told the Captain he was a homo. Captain called the corpsman and told him to check it out. Corpsman took him to his nook and pulled out his Johnson and told the guy to give him a BJ. The guy got sick and the Corpsman told the Captain he was not a homo. He went to the brig. Still laugh about that.
When I joined the Navy in '72, there was a guy in my company in boot camp who must have been like the new "precious snowflakes" we're burdened with these days. When the drill instructors came in at 0430 screaming at everyone to GET UP!! GET UP!! GET UP!!, this guy started shaking. He shook so badly, he couldn't even stand at attention. He shook for about a week and they sent him home. I couldn't imagine what his life must have been like before he joined. There was a time when the drill instructors were supposed to shake out the weaklings; what do they do lately? Are they not permitted to be tough on the recruits?
A woman once asked me why the drill instructors acted like that. I had to explain to her that the idea is to eliminate the ones who can't take the (relatively mild) stress of boot camp, because they would surely break under the stress of real action. I don't know if she got it... Barack Hussein and the Demo_Rats certainly don't get it.
Klinger livened up M.A.S.H. as a joke people.
Mr Trump is trolling for idiots every time he tosses out one of his memos/tweets. They rise to the bait like starving trout each time the Prez. lays one across their sight lines. Too self absorbed and PC crazed to get that he is pulling their chains.(mixed metaphor I know, but with the Dems. nobody will notice.)
Bless our serving men and women who lay their lives on the line every hour of every day.
Chrissy the Hyphenated said...
I tried to join the military once a long, long time ago. I never got past the first interview. Once the recruiter learned I needed bi-weekly allergy shots, he told me I was not eligible to serve. It made sense to me then and this makes sense to me now. People who need DAILY hormone replacement therapy are a liability.
Liberty Card said...
My grandson wanted to join the military too, but was rejected because he has asthma. I told him he should claim he identifies as a dog, then they'd let him in.
I'm reminded of this scene from "A Mighty Wind".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gN8YA_xeY8
L.C.Clower said...
Where is Cpl. Klinger on this issue?
Check this out. WOW! Game on?
WOW is right, but they forgot the weasel in chief.
you could piss beside her and let her catch some of the splash, just so she could see your disdain.
That's a perfectly good use of the "Don't ask (the Corpsman), Don't tell (the Captain)" policy.
Ugh, not threaded replies in non mobile view)
The first comment was for Colby Muenster regarding his fire problem
The second was for James Daily and his funny seaman story.
Fast Fast Fast Disbelief!
Renegade Renovations
In Memoriam: Joseph Rago
Knife Guys Finish First
Back to Healthcare Reform School
The Jarlsberg Diaries: Weekly World News
Incredibility Gap
Deliberate Pravda-cation
Owl Be Back
A Meme Thing To Do
Firework Stoppage


1. Paul has twice as many brothers as sisters. His sister Mary has five times as many brothers as sisters. How many sons do their parents have?
2. Find the largest real value of b such that the solutions to the following equations are integers where . = . Please express your answer in simplest radical form.
3. Triangle A has sides of length 3, 5 and 7. Triangle B has sides of length 7, 8 and 13. Triangle A and triangle B have one angle in common. Find the measure of that angle in degrees.
What do you think it is that makes them curious? Without doing the math, but just "curious", I tried #3 using a CAD program, suspecting it might be incorrect. I did not find any angle in the one triangle to be the exact same as that in the other. Close, perhaps, but close doesn't count.
1.� If their parents have m sons and n daughters, m - 1 = 2n and m = 5(n - 1), so m = 5 (and n = 2).
2.� Does the use of the word "integers" mean that the equation must have more than one integer solution?
3.� By the cosine rule, the cosine of each triangle's obtuse angle is -1/2, so that angle is exactly 120�.
4.� The only integer x such that 10 ? x ? 10 is 10. Is the question typed correctly?


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The Art Of Missing The Point
Missing the point is a very fine art; and has been carried to something like perfection by politicians and Pressmen to-day. For the point is generally a very sharp point; and is, moreover, sharp at both ends. That is to say that both parties would probably impale themselves in an uncomfortable manner if they did not manage to avoid it altogether. I have just been looking at the election address of the official Liberal candidate for the part of the country in which I live; and though it is, if anything, rather more logical and free from cant than most other documents of the sort it is an excellent example of missing the point. The candidate has to go boring on about Free Trade and Land Reform and Education; and nobody reading it could possibly imagine that in the town of Wycombe, where the poll will be declared, the capital of the Wycombe division of Bucks which the candidate is contesting, centre of the important and vital trade on which it has thriven, a savage struggle about justice has been raging for months past between the poor and rich, as real as the French Revolution. The man offering himself at Wycombe as representative of the Wycombe division simply says nothing about it at all. It is as if a man at the crisis of the French Terror had offered himself as a deputy for the town of Paris, and had said nothing about the Monarchy, nothing about the Republic, nothing about the massacres, nothing about the war; but had explained with great clearness his views on the suppression of the Jansenists, the literary style of Racine, the suitability of Turenae for the post of commander-in-chief, and the religious reflections of Madame de Maintenon. For, at their best, the candidate's topics are not topical. Home Rule is a very good thing, and modern education is a very bad thing; but neither of them are things that anybody is talking about in High Wycombe. This is the first and simplest way of missing the point: deliberately to avoid and ignore it.
The Candid Candidate
It would be an amusing experiment, by the way, to go to the point instead of avoiding it. What fun it would be to stand as a strict Party candidate, but issue a perfectly frank and cynical Election Address. Mr. Mosley's address begins, "Gentlemen,–Sir Alfred Cripps having been chosen for a high judicial position and a seat in the House of Lords, a by-election now becomes necessary, and the electors of South Bucks are charged with the responsible duty of electing, etc., etc." But suppose there were another candidate whose election address opened in a plain, manly style, like this: "Gentlemen,–In the sincere hope of being myself chosen for a high judicial position or a seat in the House of Lords, or considerably increasing my private fortune by some Government appointment, or, at least, inside information about the financial prospects, I have decided that it is worth my while to disburse large sums of money to you on various pretexts, and, with even more reluctance to endure the bad speaking and bad ventilation of the Commons' House of Parliament, so help me God. I have very pronounced convictions on various political questions; but I will not trouble my fellow-citizens with them, since I have quite made up my mind to abandon any or all of them if requested to do so by the upper classes. The electors are therefore charged with the entirely irresponsible duty of electing a Member; or, in other words, I ask my neighbours round about this part, who know I am not a bad chap in many ways, to do me a good turn in my business, just as I might ask them to change a sovereign. My election will have no conceivable kind of effect on anything or anybody except myself; so I ask, as man to man, the Electors of the Southern or Wycombe Division of the County of Buckingham to accept a ride in one of my motor-cars; and poll early to please a pal–God Save the King." I do not know whether you or I would be elected if we presented ourselves with an election address of that kind; but we should have had our fun and (comparatively speaking) saved our souls; and I have a strong suspicion that we should be elected or rejected on a mechanical majority like anybody else; nobody having dreamed of reading an election address any more than an advertisement of a hair restorer.
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HomeNews & LifestyleNewsFacebook's Reactions Buttons Are Coming Very Soon
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Facebook's Reactions Buttons Are Coming Very Soon
By margarita brighton
The Internet has been following Facebook's experiment with the 'like' button with much anticipation. Finally the site's Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox has confirmed that in addition to the infamous 'like' button, Facebook users will have the option to react to posts with 'angry', 'sad', 'wow', 'haha' or 'love' emoticons. By simply holding down the 'like' option users will have the ability to choose from the icons below:
An additional 'yay' that was employed for testing in 6 different countries, did not make the cut for Facebook's 6 reactions as it was not "universally understood."
The newest reactions were deployed by a team of sociologists who analyzed the most common reactions to Facebook posts. The alternative to the 'like' button was the obvious 'dislike' button, was rejected on the grounds it would create too much negativity on the social media site. The emoticons will be available to Facebook users worldwide within the next couple weeks.
What do you think about the new Facebook Reactions? Like or dislike them? Comment below.
Featured image via snapshot of demo video provided by Chris Cox, Facebook Chief Product Officer.
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Hilary Swank Has a Newfound Perspective on her Career
We talk to the actress about taking a break from acting and her new movie What They Had.
by : Patricia Karounos- Oct 19th, 2018
If you're at all familiar with what the last few years of Hilary Swank's life have been like—she took an extended hiatus from acting to serve as her father's sole caregiver after a life-saving lung transplant—you may also notice that her newest movie is strikingly similar to her IRL situation. What They Had finds the two-time Oscar winner as Bridget, a woman who returns home to help her brother and father [Michael Shannon and Robert Forster, respectively] figure out how to care for her Alzheimer's-suffering mother [Blythe Danner]. It's not Swank's exact situation, nor is it based on her family, but it makes sense that the emotional family drama is one of her first major film roles since her break.
Swank admits as much to us when we catch up with her ahead of the movie's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. "Something like this was pretty much the perfect movie to step back into because of the subject matter and how close to home it was," she says. "Strangely, I really felt more vulnerable in this role than I've ever felt. There was nothing I could really hide behind. It was really just a woman trying to find her way, like I am."
This isn't Swank's first project since her break. While caring for her father—who's doing well now—she started her own luxury-comfort clothing line Mission Statement before returning to the big screen in a supporting role in Steven Soderbergh's heist comedy Logan Lucky. Also this year, she starred as Gail Getty in FX's Trust, a 10-part miniseries about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. Now, there's What They Had, also executive produced by Swank, which hits select theatres Friday. We sat down with the actress to talk about the film and putting a pause on her career.
Was the fact that What They Had hit close to home part of why you wanted to do it?
For a lot of reasons, I feel like this is one of those stories that really everyone can relate to, whether it's just the love within family dysfunction, or a coming-of-age story for multi-generations. You're always coming of age no matter how old you are—you're still trying to figure things out, learning how to let go and step into the new. Bridget has not been living her most authentic self; she's not really seen in her relationship. And it's about taking care of other people but not yourself. There are many things that people are relating to, which is great, because those are all the things I related to when I read it.
The movie is very emotional and heavy, but it also has some really funny moments. Was that a difficult tone to strike?
That's why Elizabeth [Chomko, writer/director] is such a talent. When you're going through something like this in life, you have to find levity because if you don't you'll combust. You have to have a release. Sometimes it's anger, sometimes it's tears and other times it's laughter; sometimes you're so exhausted you get slap happy and you start laughing over ridiculous things. Elizabeth captured that really well.
This is also Elizabeth's first feature-length film. What was it like working with her on that?
I am obviously a champion of women and I love supporting women and when Elizabeth sat down with me, I remember reading the script and thinking it was really special. She was so smart and so egoless, which are really important components of being a filmmaker. It's her story but she didn't hold onto it so tight that she didn't make room for other people to be able to embody it and view it and give it their own colours. She's for sure someone to watch. I think she's going to have a really meaningful career.
Did taking that time to care for your father change how you look at your career at all?
Yes, it did. I've never not worked since I was 15 years old. I've been really blessed and I've always had something I'm doing, even if it's one film a year. So stepping away from it, you realize how you define yourself. I always said, "I'm an actor." Now, I realize that's a part of who I am, but it's not who I am. It was really important to recognize that, I think especially as a woman. We're so multifaceted. But it also gave me a renewed appreciation for my craft and how much I actually do love it and how much it's enriched my life. But there has to be balance—it's not my everything. It was a really profound moment.
When you say it helped you realize how much you love acting, how do you mean?
I always knew I loved acting, but it gave me a renewed invigoration for it. I love learning about people, it's inspiring to me. I realized that my art helps make up who I am. I walk in people's shoes and I see through their eyes. It's like reading a good book on steroids. I missed that.
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Dunya — a film featuring khwaja siras
21:27 By Lollywood Online
The media's portrayal of khwaja siras (transgender individuals) is often negative. In the film industry, such a character is either the subject of a joke or frowned upon and given limited roles.
In Shoaib Mansoor's Bol, we saw the transgender community play a more positive role as its members tried to save a young boy from the clutches of harassers. In the same spirit, this coming February these neglected individuals of our society will play a role in Dunya, a Punjabi film directed by the distinguished Shahid Rana, who is making a comeback after five years.
Near the acclaimed Evernew Studios in Lahore, a rooftop marriage hall is festooned with lights. Dhol and dafli players are all set to film a scene capturing an old-city haveli. Around 20 khwaja siras are dressed in their best outfits; their eyes shining with excitement as they prepare for their film debut. Starring alongside are some of Lollywood's finest actors; Moammar Rana, Saima, Shafqat Cheema, Rambo, and Nargis. It's the shooting of the filmDunya, in which 70 members of the transgender community will act alongside the film industry's prominent stars.
Neeli Roy, the guru and chairperson of Anjuman Khwaja Sira, is from Texali gate in old Lahore. Over the years, she has taken in and trained many people from the transgender community and suggested some names for the shooting of the film. Roy wants to show the societal discrimination against khwaja siras like herself by appearing in the film. "People look at us differently — with really bad intentions," she says. "It would be great if the awaam will love us [because of this film]; we are sad people and have been kicked out of our houses. All we need is love."
One member from the community, Zebi, stands close to her group of friends at the shooting. Her face is lit up and she giggles as she waits for her scene to be filmed. Zebi is from Badami Bagh and lives with her teacher, Roy, most of the time. "Most of us have to run away," she explains. "If I ask you to wear these hijra clothes, would you? Even if you wear them, would your family accept you? They would not!" Zebi cries out. "That's why we stay away from our families and our neighbourhoods, because we cause them embarrassment."
An underlying theme in the film is the dancing culture associated with khwaja siras. Roy laughs as she tries to dispel the stereotypes that come along with living in prostitution-associated neighborhoods like Heera Mandi.
"It's known as Heera Mandi because that's where the singing and dancing takes place," says Roy. "If it's a wedding or the celebration of a child's birth, people want to have a function and call khwaja siras. At that time, people book us for their functions and go home," she says bitterly.
With this film, for the first time, Pakistan's favourite villain Shafqat Cheema will be playing a positive role in a Punjabi film — the role of a guru Khwaja Sira. In the movie, Moammar Rana works as a doctor in a village where he meets Saima. Rambo, who plays Saima's brother, is the sole-breadwinner for their family. When his sister is ready for marriage, he leaves the village for the city to earn money for her dowry. His struggle begins when he arrives in the city and his horse is stolen outside of Data Sahib's durbar.
"In the film, Rambo dances to make money for Saima's dowry, but the result is that no one is willing to marry his sister," says veteran screenwriter and lyricist Abdullah Chilli, who has penned the script for Dunya. "These traditions have a negative role, and it's important that we rethink them."
A series of mishaps lands Rambo behind bars, where Shafqat Cheema introduces him to the world of dancing in Heera Mandi and also plays the role of a mentor who gets Rambo on his feet.
Although it seems that Dunya is going to be a film that touches upon some serious themes, Rana clarifies that it will still be entertaining. "I have never really done a film like this before. Our action films are failing so we are hoping to do something light-hearted and comedic," he says.


10 Innovative Ways Brides Personalised Their Lehengas!
We love creative brides, or those who take things a step further- personalising the bridal lehenga is the new idea on the block, and we are seeing more and more brides who are all for it! Here are some of the coolest and most innovative ways we saw brides personalise their lehenga- so if you're looking for inspiration to make your lehenga special, here it is!
These brides who got their blouse backs embroidered!
This is a new idea we've been spotting off late, and while it does look pretty trendy, it is a personal preference!
These ones who got the couple's names included in the design!
Names embroidered on the lehenga- a cool yet subtle way to personalise the lehenga!
This bride who got her wedding hashtag embroidered on the blouse sleeve!
Wedding hashtags are all over the place, and we have been spotting new ways to display it! Another great subtle idea!
This bride who got her latkans personalised with names and the wedding date!
Another trending idea, personalised tassels with names, date or more details!
This bride who got the lehenga label personalised instead!
If you don't want it on the outside, you can get it done on the inside!
A whole quote embroidered on the border of the lehenga- that's a new one!
This is also one of the cool ideas that we spotted- so unique and different! This one was designed by the bride herself!
This Kanjeevaram with the couple's names on the pallu!
This is such a subtle yet cool idea too! And makes the saree special!
Or this blouse with the couple's portrait's made on it!
Another one we spotted for South Indian brides, if you want your portrait made on your outfit, yes you can!
& finally, the one that started it all- the love story lehenga and the saree!
The one that started it all- the love story lehenga and Samantha Prabhu's engagement saree by Kresha Bajaj.
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The advent of Internet Protocol (IP) telephony has been rumbling deep in the minds -- and pocketbooks -- of many companies' customer service organizations for several years now, particularly with the movement toward virtual contact centers. New research from United Kingdom–based research firm ContactBabel finds that, after years of talk, IP telephony continues to make inroads among American companies—but that the real growth may be right around the corner.
According to research in "The U.S. Contact Center Operational Review," this year 20 percent of respondents report having made the switch to some manner of IP, whether it be a hybrid model or pure form, up from 14 percent in 2007. Furthermore, in the next two years 43 percent of those surveyed said they planned on implementing IP for their contact centers.
With that laundry list of benefits, why haven't more contact centers already adopted IP? Morrell explains in a subsequent interview with CRM magazine that making the switch is more of a long-term, strategic investment that will not necessarily show quick return on investment (ROI). "There is also a high upfront investment in networks and it's perceived as risky to rip out telephony [that] works," he says. "A common thing to hear asked by cynics was, 'When was the last time your telephone crashed?' This draws a comparison between the stability of phones with the relative flakiness of older networks and [personal computers]."
Despite the ongoing economic recession, though, Morrell says that he believes IP adoption may accelerate. "Multisite operations can benefit from reduced call costs," he says. "This is a decision often made at a corporate level, with the contact center benefitting as a result rather than making that [choice]."
Not surprisingly, smaller contact centers have been quicker to adopt a pure IP model, with 35 percent of these reporting having made the switch, as opposed to only 7 percent of large contact centers. On the other hand, 36 percent of the large outlets report operating a hybrid model of both IP and time-division multiplexing (TDM). "For smaller operations, it's less of an expense and upheaval to implement," Morrell says of the findings. "Hybrid IP is more of the case in large [organizations], where a department or some remote agents can prove the concept first."
Morrell says that some of the benefits cited by respondents did come as a surprise. According to study findings, the top reason respondents said they implemented IP was to "reduce telecoms and network costs." However, the top-rated benefit after implementation is greater flexibility in adding and changing agents.
"Vendors and internal champions have to push IP's cost savings to senior management who perhaps are not totally au fait with either networking technology or the contact center world in general," Morrell says. "Major benefits are actually seen to be those which enable the contact center to run more efficiently and flexibly."
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