Weblog Awards
Best Canadian Blog
2004 - 2007
Why this blog?
Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked.
This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio -
"You don't speak for me."
homepage
email Kate
(goes to a private
mailserver in Europe)
I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated!
Katewerk Art
Support SDA
I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts.
Want lies?
Hire a regular consultant.
Want truth?
Hire an asshole.
The Pence Principle
Poor Richard's Retirement
Pilgrim's Progress
Trump The Establishment
Oh,Kenji, where are you ?
Is this the Reader Tips thread for today?
If so. The author of the article, Puzhong Yao, makes an interesting summation. I also was brought up to think that good hard honest work brought success. But when looking around at many of the movers and shakers, maybe I was taught wrong.
Two Professors Claim That Civility Is Racist
By now, you probably already know that nothing you do will ever be good enough for Leftist activists. If you’re a white person, you’re racist no matter what you do. If you’re a man, you’re sexist. If you’re straight, then you’re a homophobe. Born a gender and you want to stay that way? Congratulations, you’re transphobic.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/saying-civility-racist-fuels-racist-movements/
Interesting.
I noticed he still lists his credentials after the article, though that is probably standard procedure for the magazine.
AGW RIP.
Come for a virtual walk on the ice side.
“abnormal cold air” is not abnormal; it’s normal cold air.
…-
“Arctic air making Great Lakes ice expand to double of average”
“The abnormally cold air isn’t only freezing us. It’s causing ice cover on the Great Lakes to expand rapidly. All of the Great Lakes have more than double the amount of ice cover today than the long term average, with the exception of Lake Superior.
Let’s walk through some images of the growing ice, and how quickly the ice is forming.”
http://www.mlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2018/01/arctic_air_making_great_lakes.html
Ken,
As a fiscal conservative I view life on the basis of affordability, practicality and yes what does my action do to the environment. Sustainability cannot be achieved through subjective analysis. Progressives thrive in a subjective environment as accountability is not really important.
With the perameters described above my life is doomed to ongoing disappointment in the human condition. Particularly true when I fail to live up to my own convictions. Oh well, I guess I can toke up with my PM the next time he is in town.
My greatest disappointment is the collapse of the conservative movement in the past 10 years. At best the opportunity to make a true shift in beliefs/values is tenuous. Real change requires change in the education system which is easier than most suspect. Let us start with simple financial literacy. This did not happen in the Harper years and certainly will not under Turdeau.
The author’s comments remind me of a book, “The Drunkard’s Walk — How Randomness Rules our Lives”. It examines how pure chance and statistical distributions can affect everything from professional baseball batting averages to getting married and having children. One of the take away messages was that, although randomness can have an enormous influence on our lives, intelligence, hard work and persistence can go a long way toward stacking the odds in our favour for the outcomes we are seeking.
I also was brought up to think that good hard honest work brought success. But when looking around at many of the movers and shakers, maybe I was taught wrong.
So was I, but I quickly learned, to quote the line from George Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, “it ain’t necessarily so”.
After I finished my B. Sc. in mechanical engineering over 40 years ago, I went to work for the Canadian subsidiary of a large multi-national oil company. I chose that firm because I thought it would provide me the best opportunities to put into practice what I had studied while earning my degree. Working in a processing facility, I could see how what I learned from my courses in fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and heat transfer could be applied.
I would have been perfectly satisfied if I could have become a back-room boffin with that company, but that wasn’t in line with its intentions towards me.
Instead, I was expected to chuck 4 years of a university education and start all over again as a company apprentice. The firm still clung to the belief that a university degree should be treated as an entry ticket and nothing else.
I found my time there to be frustrating as it certainly wasn’t what I wanted and, I dare say, the company might have engaged in a bit of bait-and-switch. I had been led to believe that my education and previous experience as a summer student in an oil refinery would be useful but it was completely disregarded.
The company didn’t see me as a potential engineer with technical expertise but a future manager. To me, that meant becoming a professional know-nothing bull slinger, leaving behind what I wanted to work on. I fought against that and, ultimately, I paid the price, being fired after less than a year.
I found a different job a few weeks later and, eventually, I returned for graduate studies with the objective of moving into research and development.
Since then, I’ve sometimes heard about what happened to some of the people I knew while I worked for that oil company. As I suspected, most of them moved into management, some into senior administration or running their own companies. I wasn’t surprised at what became of them as I could tell when they were my colleagues that they were purveyors of horse pucky.
It took me a long time to figure out that the oil company I started with didn’t value me based on what I did technically but on which manager I cozied up to. We often had dog and pony show meetings in which some of us had to make presentations to senior managers from the national head office. It quickly became apparent that those managers really didn’t pay attention to the details of what was being said. Instead, they were looking for people who could, potentially, join their ranks and those presentations were simply a talent show or beauty contest.
One reason I got canned was because I couldn’t take that malarkey seriously. If I hadn’t been fired, I would likely have quit on my own.
As for the company’s technical experts, there was a group of “good ol’ boys” in its head office that served that purpose. I remember discussing a particular problem at a certain facility and I made a suggestion on how to fix it. The GOBs hemmed and hawed for several weeks, probably because they thought I was a snotty young punk who shouldn’t be taken seriously, and decided, after careful deliberation, to leave things as they were.
It was things like that which made me question why I was working there.
Maybe my thinking was warped by my working-class upbringing and having 2 parents who were journeymen in their respective trades.
That was an interesting read. I too was taught that hard work and honesty were the keys to success and happiness. Nothing at all wrong with the sentiment, except it is no guarantee of anything. We ultimately have little or no control over our life’s direction, illnesses, accidents, poor decisions, crime, etc, can derail, or simply end, ANYONE’s happy little life at ANYTIME. Luck, or fate if you prefer, often has the final word.
I was also struck how Mr. Yao seemed unaware as to how many western ‘minorities’ are trained by leftards to believe that they can never be a success because the racist system designed by whitey is actively trying to keep them down. Say what you want about Asian cultures but many seem to encourage looking inward to explain personal failures or shortcomings instead of seeking outside scapegoats to blame their troubles on.
A sentiment that all race-baiting, grievance industry hucksters would do themselves a world of good to learn.
unions and EGO’s, two of the biggest road blocks in industry
An interesting read Kate… (from the link)
“In Communism, the future is certain; it is only the past that might not be.” …
“Someone once said that it is necessary to know English in order to learn about China. Important perspectives on China are only available in English and are generally not accessible on the mainland.”
and the reasons why free speech is first among “rights”
How can you know your country if only the accepted criticism is accepted?
You all have the heart and soul of Dr Benjamin Franklin, father of the American Revolution and signer of the Declaration of Independence. I read his biography many years ago. He too was practical. He never went to Harvard because he was too poor yet became wealthy due to the attributes you mention, like persistence and hard work. The French bestowed an honorary doctorate to him for his invention of the lightening rod, which you still see on many houses today. It saved many properties from burning down during storms. (He would have loved the internet)
Your experience at that oil company is spot on . My husband can relate to everything you said in your comment on it being a talent show and brains or experience don’t matter. He knew his job well and many people came to him for help but he showed up management and they could not tolerate that.
“How can you know your country if only the accepted criticism is accepted?”
Communist China is the country we all love to hate, and for good reason. It is a very bad place to live. But your question made me think, what criticisms are not accepted in Canada?
And the answer came, try criticizing the gay maffia or immigration and see what happens.
Also, this Chinese gentleman has demonstrated that atheism is an empty shell. Random chance exists, particularly in economic markets. Hard work and honesty may have nothing to do with “success” in the short term, but they certainly do in the long term.
This is because human beings are not mathematical algorithms responding to randomly changing conditions. Economic models assume that, but not because it is true. They assume it because no one has been able to model what humans really -do- out there.
There is one aspect of the article that was 100% accurate, the business of slogans. Whenever you see a company that touts a high-minded slogan, it is safe to assume that everything they say is a lie, and you should watch them very, very carefully.
It’s not what you know, because if it was, then you could start your own company, it’s who you know.
AGW ecoist fraudsters have pulled the wool over too many sheep’s wigs.
“… sheep’s wool insulation, which is like “fillet steak” for moths.”
…-
“Family’s ‘dream house’ ravaged by moth infestation of ‘biblical proportions’
‘I think our situation could be the tip of an iceberg – many more people must have installed this kind of insulation'”
“… she was not alone in experiencing problems with sheep’s wool insulation, which is like “fillet steak” for moths.” (independent)
…-
“the house … “insulated with sheep’s wool, could not be saved.”
“Ethical and green living
Grand Designs £27,000 eco-home in Wales burns to the ground”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/04/grand-designs-27000-eco-home-in-wales-burns-to-the-ground
“Whenever you see a company that touts a high-minded slogan, it is safe to assume that everything they say is a lie, and you should watch them very, very carefully.”
You have learned wisdom,Grasshopper. And the same can especially be said of any huckster, from a salesman to a politician.
The worst, as we know, are the “save the planet” organizations, where everything they say is a lie calculated to suck us in to pay for their livelihood.
Excellent article,enjoyed it.
And his statement on financial models could be applied to climate models as well: “I have since found that the mistake of blindly relying on models is quite widespread in both trading and investing—often with disastrous results, such as the infamous collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management”.
Very interesting read—thanks for posting this!
This talent-show thing is a recurring theme in Canadian business. Managers do everything for appearance, making money or reducing costs are never an issue. It was that way in every single company I ever worked at.
I think it all boils down to something interesting. Companies don’t make money selling their products. They make money from something else.
Retail companies particularly are actually a real estate play. The retail end is an excuse to own land and buildings. The stores barely break even. Imagine being a talented fashion buyer for The Gap. Imagine the dismay of being told to buy only the cheapest rags that you know will never, ever sell, because management doesn’t care if it sells. They care about looking good, which sales make no difference to.
Or Bombardier. Do they make money from selling airplanes, trains, snowmobiles? No. They make money from government. They are essentially a money-laundering operation for the federal Liberals. The sales are just an excuse.
Imagine being a talented young engineer at Bombardier. Talk about frustrating.
Ben Franklin also invented the wood stove that is named after him, the jet stream, Bifocal eyewear, electricity and the internet, oh no, that was Al Gore, amongst many other things.
It is all about making money,ultimately,the stuff you are talking about is ego….it’s always about the bottom line though.
The ongoing Dr. Jordan Peterson and Lindsey Sheppard controversy is front and center among news and non-fake news followers. But there may be other quiet warriors for freedom that are slipping under the radar of public scrutiny. One such below.
The Barry Neufeld Debacle: a short trip into far-left hysteria
It has also apparently now been determined by the new science that a 50 year-old man can actually be a 6 year-old girl if he so chooses. I’m confused as to how this might work with driving licenses, alcohol purchases, or weddings, especially if the opposite scenario occurred. But then, that’s why we have human-rights tribunals and other kangaroo courts. If you question such a claim or even stop to ponder the scientific credibility of it, you will be immediately accused of bigotry and hatred. This apparently means that you’re a really terrible person, regardless of the fact that your family and circle of friends – people who actually know you well – think otherwise. If you do it in the wrong place, you might actually be physically assaulted for your transgressions against the agents of love and inclusion. Apparently, the great Lysenko lives on and has now moved on to teaching biology rather than simply perfecting it. He seems to have millions of students and for some reason they all seem to land government jobs. He seems to have also resurrected the old NKVD thugs to help with the “awareness campaign”.
https://www.newcenter.ca/news/2017/12/23/the-barry-neufeld-debacle-a-short-trip-into-far-left-hysteria
When starting your own company, what you know matters because if you don’t do things right you won’t get much in the way of referrals or repeat business, but who you know also matters because if you don’t get a chance to show potential customers what you know, it doesn’t matter what you know.
Soon after I started painting with a partner some years ago a customer found us through our classified line ad and took a chance on us. We did the work well, she mentioned it to her real estate agent who mentioned it to a relative who was also a real estate agent who also gave us a job. Again, we did the work well and in the following two years we stopped advertising, had as much work as we could handle with over half of it coming from referrals by that real estate agent and all those happy customers spread the word that kept us busy (until my partner died and I wound it down over the subsequent two years and got into something else because I missed her too much.)
I now do something completely different. I got lucky, did a paint job for a fellow who owns his own company. He liked my work and thought well enough of me to offer to invest some thousands of dollars on training for me so I could work for his company.
There is nothing in that story to suggest that without the luck we could have made that business work, but we also couldn’t have taken advantage of the good luck if we hadn’t worked hard at it and made sure we learned our craft well. That’s also what got me through the bad luck of losing my partner.
The universe is going to dump on you sometimes and lift you up other times. Make yourself ready for it always, in all ways that you can.
Not a stupid china-man, loved his black Swan
“I told him about the black swan I kept on my desk as a reminder that low probability events happen with high frequency” YAO
The environmentalists brought this? well, I suppose there’s very little separation between them and the EU in general.
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/10813745.Council_warns_against_use_of_poisonous_mothballs/
and the other side…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3463893/Holy-straight-bananas-now-the-Eurocrats-are-banning-moth-balls.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothball
Yes, I stand corrected, I meant not “knowing anything”just in jest within the context of what the previous discussions were. The people who have university degrees sometimes are treated poorly by their jealous co-workers or bosses who may not have degrees. Sometimes people aren’t on the same level and buzzing on the same frequencies. Ultimately the work speaks for itself. If one is underappreciated one should go out and seek his or her own fortune. The repeat business is a natural byproduct plus serendipity and focus, therefore it’s what the bosses want or the client wants.
Sorry … delayed responses today … because I continue to WORK like the poor, common, American, white trash laborer who just happened to LUCK into being born in a country that now seems bent on punishing me for my white privilege. My white privilege consists of no workie no paycheckie.
I am not certain why you were anticipating my response to this very well written and engaging essay. Is it the summary that life is a series of random occurrences, such that even the most smug of wealthy elitists have little control of their own futures? Or is it that the atheist author fails to understand his own unwitting acknowledgment that there are forces at work beyond his mathematical economic models and that he actually has written a small “proof” of God’s existence ? I suppose that is just part of his flat heart rate (talk about your self-confessing Chinese stereotype) … that he is in such supreme “control” (so he thinks) of his own emotions that he can “logically” deny the existence of God. Nevermind that his self-imposed denial of emotion is actually an act of spiritual suicide. But reading his words leaves me with an alternate opinion … I believe he is on the path of enlightenment when he acknowledges that as it is written in Book of Proverbs … “all is folly”. Wealth, power, admiration (mathematical economic models) … all is folly. He made an illogical gamble on UK inflation and was actually praised for doing something wrong … folly.
Man believes he is in control of his own life. This is an illusion. How many of us (after attaining a certain age) can look back on events in their lives and shook their heads wondering how they were able to survive? I have been in multiple potential accidents … one that pops into mind … involving a drunk, sleepy, high school friend driving a car full of friends home from a day of playing hookey in Santa Cruz … when we were about to rear end dead stopped traffic traveling 60+ mph on Hwy17 … I awoke my buddy of the danger and he slammed on the brakes, spun the wheel … and instead of rolling the car across the roadway … we spun a 540 and ended up in the open median strip (between traffic lanes) facing backwards. Other than a potentially fatal release of adrenaline… we all sat there for 1 full minute laughing that we weren’t all ejected from a tumbling vehicle. Luck. Or something else. Yes … the “control” we arrogantly believe we have over our own lives … is an illusion.
PS … I sincerely HOPE that SHE and her crime cartel are about to learn just how little “control” they have over their lives. Murder. BleachBit. Lies, damn lies, and more lies … aren’t going to save HER. SHE is in dire need of a little “special prosecution” … the RANDOM result of … “Plan-B”
The Chinese Guy has most of the realistic applications correct.. If you have experience in the Corporate World the statement by Warren Buffet has significant meaning… Better to be almost right than absolutely wrong.. all the PHD ‘s who think they are right are absolutely Wrong (closed minds don’t work in science)…Every real scientist questions their theory…Even Einstein was not certain of his theory because you can’t EVER be absolutely correct, something to do with a symmetrical world..
Religious: I don’t know but my hero George Patton said that all people will have occasion (like a tap on the shoulder) to make a decision change before making a mistake.. He said that had happened three times in his life….
I know in my own life that has happened twice and my future would have changed drastically if I had gone the wrong way…..Guardian Angel, or just bull shit detector…
I know that MOST people will have experienced the tap on the shoulder…Nothing exceptional about it
JMHO
So writes this article about how smart he is but can’t come to say Liberty is better than Communism.
I don’t know about why Darren Potter was anticipating your reply to this very well written and engaging essay but for my part I will say this:I was anticipating that you would weigh in because you always seem to have a selective instinct for what is excellent.
However he DID say that an Oxford education wasn’t as stressful as his Ching-dong-dao education. That everything is EASY in the West … almost like the streets are paved with gold.
PS … I wonder how he is doing on his $500k life-goal ? If he is invested in the Trump stock market … he should be doing quite well … unless he used the (absolutely WRONG) Thomas Friedman investment model.
I’m com’n for you ..
Tim (little bill) Hortons..!?
Fascinating perspective by Mr. Yao but I think he has given us a snapshot of the current or more recent state of affairs within the US education system and the coastal elites, which have jarred with what he learned of Costco and the real world.
Myself having a BSEE and MBA from the 1970’s (and not being at the top of any class) I do not recall any of my professors engaging in the “touchy feely” stuff, it was all no nonsense economics, mathematics, lab work and analyzing results.
I will grant that the masters level course in advertising and marketing skirted the same “company logo” and “company motto” silliness, but we took it in the spirit of fun, never truly so serious about it. In my experience most company mottoes arise from some bright pithy saying of the founder or CEO, and beyond that the work of Madison Ave. advertising firms hired by the mega-corporations, whichever are ascendant at the time.
“closed minds don’t work in science”.
Wanna bet? A lot of money? I’ve only a BSc, so I’m kinda flexible on science, but PhD’s are something to behold in the work world. I had a lot working for me, in my early years as a project manager. Heads like blocks of wood, for the most part.
Guess what kinds of companies? Big Oil companies & a few Big Mining companies. The most ultra conservative, don’t-rock-the-boat, or think outside the box types of organizations I’ve ever worked for. Drove me to start my own company & never worked for anyone else ever after, except as contractual. By the day types of employment.
Once the BSc years are done it seems, the mind seems to close & focus on some minute portion of your particular science. There are of course exceptions & they are truly the brilliant ones. They only succeed when they remove themselves from employment constraints & do Like I did….start their own companies, usually single owner-operators.
P.O. IN ALBERTA: If I may say, I sort of suspected that you have the aforementioned “spirit” of Ben Franklin by the comments you make on a regular basis. This, in my humble opinion, represents a selective instinct for what is excellent.
“Closed minds don’t work in science” what, you say?
Except in the science of “climate change”, right?
They said, like a court case, that the science was settled on this!
This guy is laughing at the West. In our world one cannot afford to go to the schools that he said he did unless one is wealthy, or one’s parents are wealthy. I could go on and on about him and won’t because I don’t have to. We are on to you, mister.