Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Don't Blame Everyone
Don't punish everyone for one person's mistake from Derek Sivers on Vimeo.
Click here for a link to the video.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Computers....Male or Female
A SPANISH Teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.
'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'
'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'
A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2 The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la casa.'
'Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.'
A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?'
Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.
The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2 The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.
(THIS GETS BETTER!)
The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ('el computador'), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.
The women won.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Nice Compensation Package
AbitibiBowater’s compensation package for their new Chief Financial Officer
November 16th, 2011 | Posted in Misc. | 1 comment »
Jo-Ann Longworth took over the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AbitibiBowater (now Resolute Forest Products) when William G. Harvey stepped down from the position on August 31, 2011.
In AbitibiBowater’s recent quarterly statement, Longworth’s salary and Harvey’s compensation were made public.
William G. Harvey’s Severance
William G. Harvey resigned from his position of Chief Financial Officer as of August 31, 2011.
Terms of departure include:
- Severance Pay = $1,303,681.44
- Retroactive Pay = $42,000
- + Vacation Pay (for all accrued but unused vacation time + 12% of base salary earned in 2011)
- + Short Term Incentive Plan Bonus pro-rated for 2011
- + Long Term Incentive Plan Bonus
As a condition of receiving the severance pay, Harvey agreed to waive all claims against the company, except the following amounts:
- $252,268 for regular and synergy bonuses pursuant to the 2008 Annual Incentive Plan
- $133,279 related to the Executive’s relocation process following the Abitibi/Bowater Merger (without any admission from the Company that the Executive did relocate to Canada)
- $135,000 for education allowance
- $10,208.19 for reimbursement of tax penalty
Each of these will be settled, if and when allowed, to the extent provided in accordance with applicable bankruptcy rules and procedures.
William G. Harvey’s Consulting Agreement
For 7 months after his termination day, Harvey will provide consulting services to the new Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Details:
- less than 20% of his previous worked hours
- Consulting fees: $40,000 / month
- Professional fees: not to exceed $10,000
- will provide all consulting services from the USA
Jo-Ann Longworth’s Salary and Compensation Package
- Annual Base Salary: $350,000 (Canadian funds)
- Short Term Incentive Plan: targeted at 100% of base salary for 2011, with opportunity to earn 150%. (overall maximum incentive payout cannot exceed 7% of company’s free cash flow in 2011)
- Long Term Incentive Plan: Likely 125% of base salary for 2011 – to be determined by Board of Directors
- Pension Plan – Employee contributes 5% of eligible earnings (to a limit of $245,000), Company contributes 20.5% of eligible earnings)
- Vacation – 5 weeks a year
- Allowance – up to $12,000/yr to cover items such as club membership, fiscal and financial advice, and tax preparation
- Annual Medical Examination provided by the company for Longworth and her spouse (up to $1,500 per person)
- Parking
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Cool Space Station Video
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
Click here for a link to the video.
Friday, November 11, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
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