Politics.NET

Usually people are shocked when they find that I have been at the same company for over 8 years. Especially since I am in IT where the norm is to jump from job to job in search of higher and higher salary. They tell me I can make more money at other places; that doing short-term contracting can bring in bigger bucks.  Well, here are the reasons I am still at Aquilent close to 9 years after driving to a mostly residential area of Laurel for a job interview with an anonymous IT contractor: the commute can't be beat. It's 7.3 miles of local roads. the medical benefits are excellent! Both in terms of the quality of the providers and in the price the employee pays. When my wife and I decided to consolidate our health care with a single company, we found out that what I'll pay at Aquilent for "Employee + Family" is way cheaper than what she would pay at her company for "Employee + 1". That's coverage for more people for less money. Tuition reimbursement. I...

Sure their devices are sleek, cool and cost more than your mortage. But is it too much to ask that when I install 1 of their software, the installer doesn't install a bunch of other Apple crap that I don't need/want?  First it was iTunes: it doesn't work unless Quicktime is installed. Why I need another Apple video player as a pre-requisite for iTunes (a media player) is beyond me! when you install iTunes, you get these "great" Apple software like "Bonjour", "Apple Software Update" (which isn't really a vehicle for delivering updates but one for delivering yet more Apple products to unsuspecting consumers).  In addition to those, you get all sorts of Windows Services for managing iPhones even if you don't have one.  I seem to remember there was a time Apple, Sun and others were against Microsoft bundling IE with Windows. I wonder how many MacBook Apple sells without all their iCrap software. Today, I decided to try the beta version of A...

This is an excerpt from a letter NY's AG wrote to the House of Rep's Barny Franks: Bearing in mind that Merrill moved up its bonus payments in advance of its announced $15 billion quarterly loss and $27 billion annual loss, we have determined that Merrill Lynch made the following bonus payments: The top four bonus recipients received a combined $121 million; The next four bonus recipients received a combined $62 million; The next six bonus recipients received a combined $66 million; Fourteen individuals received bonuses of $1 0 million or more and combined they received more than $250 million; 20 individuals received bonuses of $8 million or more; 53 individuals received bonuses of $5 million or more; 149 individuals received bonuses of $3 million or more; Overall, the top 149 bonus recipients received a combined $858 million; 696 individuals received bonuses of $1 million or more. Again, these payments and their curious timing raise serious questions as to whether the Merrill ...

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Just don't do it if you are even slightly gullible. It's just way too dangerous. Too many snake oil salemen pitching their wares.