A Christian Story

A Jewish father was concerned about his son who was about a year away from his Bar Mitzvah but was sorely lacking in his knowledge of the Jewish faith. To remedy this, he sent his son to Israel to experience his heritage.

A year later the young man returned home. "Father, thank you for sending me to the land of our Fathers," the son said. "It was wonderful and enlightening; however, I must confess that whael I converted to Christianity."

"Oi vey," replied the father, "vhat have I done?" So in the tradition of the patriarchs, he went to his best friend and sought his advice and solace.

"It is amazing that you should come to me," stated his friend, "I, too, sent my son to Israel, and he returned a Christian."

So in the tradition of the patriarchs they went to the Rabbi.

"It is amazing that you should come to me," stated the Rabbi, "I, too, sent my son to Israel, and he returned a Christian. What is happening to our sons?" "Brothers, we must take this to the Lord," said the Rabbi.

They fell to their knees and began to wail and pour out their hearts to the Almighty. As they prayed, the clouds opened, and a mighty voice stated, "Amazing that you should come to Me. I, too, sent My Son to Israel...."

A Management Course

Lesson One:
An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, "Can I also sit like you and do nothing?"
The eagle answered: "Sure, why not".
So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Management Lesson:
To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.

Lesson Two:
A turkey was chatting with a bull. "I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree," sighed the turkey, "but I haven't got the energy."
"Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?" replied the bull." They're packed with nutrients."
The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day he reached the second branch and, finally, after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree. He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.
Management Lesson:
Bullshit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.

Lesson Three:
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold, the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He laid there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.
A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.
Management Lesson:

(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.
(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.
(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

This ends the three minute management course.

Next Year 40th Anniversary

Self explanatory

Teaching Math

Teaching Math in 1950:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1960:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of the price, or $80. What is his profit?

Teaching Math in 1970:
A logger exchanges a set "L" of lumber for a set "M" of money. The cardinality of set "M" is 100. Each element is worth one dollar. Make 100 dots representing the elements of the set "M". The set "C", the cost of production contains 20 fewer points than set "M". Represent the set "C" as a subset of set "M" and answer the following question: What is the cardinality of the set "P" of profits?

Teaching Math in 1980:
A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

Teaching Math in 1990:
By cutting down beautiful forest trees, the logger makes $20. What do you think of this way of making a living? Topic for class participation after answering the question? How did the forest birds and squirrels feel as the logger cut down the trees? There are no wrong answers.

Teaching Math in 2000:
By laying off 402 of its loggers, a company improves its stock price from $80 to $100. How much capital gain per share does the CEO make by exercising his stock options at $80. Assume capital gains are no longer taxed, because this encourages investment.

Teaching Math in 2005:
A company outsources all of its loggers. They save on benefits and when demand for their product is down the logging work force can easily be cut back. The average logger employed by the company earned $50,000, had 3 weeks vacation, received a nice retirement plan and medical insurance. The contracted logger charges $50 an hour. Was outsourcing a good move?

Teaching Math in 2009:
A logging company exports its wood-finishing jobs to its Indonesian subsidiary and lays off the corresponding half of its US workers (the higher-paid half). It clear-cuts 95 % of the forest, leaving the rest for the spotted owl, and lays off all its remaining US workers. It tells the workers that the spotted owl is responsible for the absence of fellable trees and lobbies Congress for exemption from the Endangered Species Act. Congress instead exempts the company from all federal regulation. What is the return on investment of the lobbying costs?

Job Application

They say this is an actual job application a 17 year old boy submitted at a McDonald's fast-food establishment in Florida... And they hired him because he was so honest…

NAME: N.N.
SEX: Not yet. Still waiting for the right person.
DESIRED POSITION: Company's President or Vice President. But seriously, whatever's available. If I was in a position to be picky, I wouldn't be applying here in the first place.
DESIRED SALARY: $185,000 a year plus stock options and a Michael Ovitz style severance package. If that's not possible, make an offer and we can haggle.
EDUCATION: Yes.
LAST POSITION HELD: Target for middle management hostility.
SALARY: Less than I'm worth.
MOST NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENT: My incredible collection of stolen pens and post-it notes.
REASON FOR LEAVING: It sucked.
HOURS AVAILABLE TO WORK: Any.
PREFERRED HOURS: 1:30-3:30 p.m., Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIAL SKILLS?: Yes, but they're better suited to a more intimate environment.
MAY WE CONTACT YOUR CURRENT EMPLOYER?: If I had one, would I be here?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PHYSICAL CONDITIONS THAT WOULD PROHIBIT YOU FROM LIFTING UP TO 50 LBS?: Of what?
DO YOU HAVE A CAR?: I think the more appropriate question here would be "Do you have a car that runs?"
HAVE YOU RECEIVED ANY SPECIAL AWARDS OR RECOGNITION?: I may already be a winner of the Publishers Clearing house Sweepstakes.
DO YOU SMOKE?: On the job no, on my breaks yes.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE DOING IN FIVE YEARS?: Living in the Bahamas with a fabulously wealthy dumb sexy blonde super model who thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, I'd like to be doing that now.
DO YOU CERTIFY THAT THE ABOVE IS TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE?: Yes. Absolutely.
SIGN HERE: Aries.

Thought of The Day 55

Philosopher: A fool who torments himself during life, to be spoken of when dead.

Useful Work Tips

Here are some useful phrases you can use when in the workplace:

If you don”t know what it is, call it an “issue”…

If you don”t know how it works, call it a “process”…

If you don”t know whether its worth doing, call it an “option”…

If you don”t know how it could possibly be done call it a “challenge” or an “exciting opportunity”…

If you want to confuse people, ask them about “customers”…

If you don”t know how to do something, “empower” someone else to do it for you…

If you can”t take decisions, “create space” for others to operate…

If you need a decision, call a “workshop” to “network” and “ground the issue”, followed by an “awayday” to “position the elephant in the room” and achieve “buy-in”…

Never criticize or boast, call it “information sharing”…

Never call something a failure or mistake, its a “positive learning experience”…

Never argue, have an “adult conversation”…

Liquidity

Definition: Liquidity is when you look at your retirement funds and wet your pants.

Sanity

The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness... Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you...

Welcome

Some Strange Things We Do

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

I Think

I'm not a complete idiot -- Some parts are certainly missing...

Haven't Gone Anywhere

Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

Thought of The Day 54

Being 'over the hill' is much better than being under it!

Thought of The Day 53

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

Aina ei ole helppoa

On todella tärkeätä, että pitää siitä, mitä tekee!Vai mitä? Silloin hyväksyy pienet vastoinkäymisetkin.

Midsommer In Finland

Almost only in Finland there is a great feast in the Midsommer. Some people in Sweden know what we are talking about, but that's it. I guess Finland is geografically one of the countries which has to use every opportunity to celebrate summer, in case we have one. At least, if we do not have a fine weather, we have a lot of light. Actually in Juhannus (The Midsummer Feast) in the northern parts of Finland the sun never gets down! Nor do the Finns, at least the younger ones... But you who do not realize that this is it: after the midsummer the days are getting shorter again. On Friday nobody goes to work beause it is Juhannus.

Midsummer is the celebration of the most luminous time of the year. In Finland it is also the Flag Day and according to the official rules, flags are raised at six in the evening on Midsummer's Eve and lowered at 21 hours on the evening of the following day. Midsummer is surely the most delightful of Finland's public holidays.
It is called the festival of "Nightless Night" because in the northern part of Finland, that is above the Arctic Circle, the sun does not go down behind the horizon at all!
The festival is celebrated on the Saturday that falls between 20th June and 26th June. Many of the customs associated with Midsummer's Day derive from the pre-Christian and pan-European festival of light and fertility that marked the summer solstice. The burning of the Midsummer kokko (bonfire), originally a tradition linked, in the north and east of the country, with beliefs concerning fertility, cleansing and the banishing of evil spirits, has in the 20th century spread throughout Finland. It has become the central element in the programme of commercial Midsummer festivities, along with music and dance.


Homes are decorated with flowers and birch branches. A Midsummer pole, reminiscent of an ornamental sailing mast, is part of the Finland-Swedish tradition of southern Finland and Ahvenanmaa (also called Aweland...)
Everybody who has the slightest possibility travel to the countryside and towns are really deserted. Everything is closed and the tourists who do not perhaps know about this tradition think that a Neutron Bomb must have hit the streets.
It's a Finnish tradition to drink a lot during the festival, many people don't go to sleep at all during Midsummer Night because it is so bright. The statistics for the number of people drowned and otherwise killed in accidents are morbidly counted every year.

Here you can listen to our National Anthem and see some pictures from Finland.
We love Juhannus!

And In Any Case

Things tend to be getting better!

Hi, I'm back. Again.

Totuuksia

Niin se on!