http://archive.easternecho.com/content/rep...

http://cspan.org/Watch/Media/2009/06/29/HP...

It was highly enlightening and an excellent read. Spaulding makes some excellent points. A few:

The chicken dance by all the Bluth family members used to get me every time.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/1351/arrested-de... <--The chicken dance begins at 2:30 but the entire clip is fun.

Here's a nice little article about it: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05e...



I find it rather disappointing how quickly DUers believe that what Cheney has to say has any relevance in anything now. Cheney was able to make TORTURE "legal" during his reign in the White House but it was too difficult to find the time to give gays equal rights and the right to marry since he is such an obvious gay rights advocate?! Give me a break! He can say whatever he wants to now because he is trying his damnedest to undermine the current administration.

That gave me a great laugh.

How could you not like that cute smile on the sloth's face?

I’m really interested in learning a new language – in both its’ spoken and written forms if possible. The only problem is that I don’t know where to start.

So, have you taught yourself a new language? What language was it? What resource(s) did you use?

Is it sweet? Is it difficult to find in stores?

Source: Newsmax.com

Friday, February 13, 2009
By: Peter Miller

HBO will debut Alexandra Pelosi’s documentary “Right America: Feeling Wronged” on Monday, Presidents Day.

Subtitled “Some Voices From the Campaign Trail,” the 44-minute documentary by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s daughter engages conservative followers of 2008 GOP candidate John McCain’s Straight Talk Express who see their hopes dashed in the wake of the Democratic victory.

---

A fierce media critic, Pelosi once told a gathering of NYU journalism students that the media is “the biggest problem that we have in America right now.” In that vein, she authored the 2005 book, “Sneaking into the Flying Circus: How the Media Turn Our Presidential Campaigns into Freak Shows,” in which she documents a “dysfunctional relationship” that includes “absurd hazing rituals” that candidates must endure.

A lifelong Democrat, Pelosi covered that party’s 2004 candidates for her HBO film “Diary of a Political Tourist.”

Read more: http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Pelosi_...

HBO site: http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/rightamer...

The McCain moment I’m talking about should have been his "Howard Dean" moment but the MSM never allowed it to end McCain’s campaign. The skit that I mention is at 1:16 in the video. I couldn’t find a clean clip of it anywhere but at the link I will provide. If you want a good laugh, I suggest you watch.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25067201/vp/27...

Though I will watch any movie genre, I especially like horror films. One of the horror films pretty much despised by many considering themselves horror fans are the Final Destination flicks. They aren’t scary in the slightest, but I always enjoyed the over-the-top death scenes and cheesy final words of the victims.

So, what film do you like that you are sure that others don’t like?

Here are my contributions:
Family Guy: Stewie's American Idol Audition
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/81713/d... /

Peter Griffin dislikes "The Godfather"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avddxEad7u8

It may not necessarily be strange by your standards, but maybe by other people’s standards. For me, it was blue crab innards. My friends and I were having a blue crab boil and I saw my good friend from northern China eating everything inside the opened crab shell – I had never seen that before. My curiosity was piqued so I tried it. It wasn’t bad and I didn’t get sick or anything.

So, what weird thing have you eaten? Did you decide to eat it randomly or for another reason?

V's monologue at the beginning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OB6EsUP4tU

V's TV speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TLD3Z6sJWA

Evey finding strength in her time of difficulty: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxnlNb3QrgQ

These a just to name a few....

Companies are increasingly sending IT work to hubs outside India. They're saving money but facing a whole new raft of challenges

by Rachael King

After 10 months of working with software developers in Bangalore, India, Bill Wood was ready to call it quits. The local engineers would start a project, get a few months' experience, and then bolt for greener pastures, says the U.S.-based executive. Attrition rose to such a high level that year that Wood's company had to replace its entire staff, some positions more than once. "It did not work well at all," recalls Wood, vice-president of engineering at Ping Identity, a maker of Internet security software for corporations. Frustrated, Wood began searching for a partner outside India. He scoured 15 companies in 8 different countries, including Russia, Mexico, Argentina, and Vietnam.

That path is being trod by a lot of executives, eager for new sources of low-cost, high-tech talent outside India. Many are fed up with the outsourcing hub of Bangalore, where salaries for info tech staff are growing at 12% to 14% a year, turnover is increasing, and an influx of workers is straining city resources.

...

Yet many companies can't resist the lure of cheaper labor. "Ninety percent of all outsourcing deals in the market today have been structured around cost improvement only," says Linda Cohen, vice-president of sourcing research at consulting firm Gartner (IT). By the third year of an outsourcing deal, after all the costs have been squeezed out, companies get antsy to find a new locale with an even lower overhead.

...

The move reduces costs by 60% to 75%, Gett figures, letting Optaros offer competitive pricing to customers. "We're going to where the most cost-effective talent is in the world, but it has to be feasible," he says. "It can't be where there are economic, time zone, or language barriers." In fact, Gett needs his application developers to interact directly with customers in the U.S. and Western Europe, so he appreciates that Akela workers speak English and French and are closer to the Optaros Geneva office than workers in India would be.

...

Threat to U.S. Workers

And while a technically skilled global labor force is a boon to companies, the picture isn't so rosy for U.S. workers. Instead of competing with just India, now U.S. IT workers will need to go up against workers all over the world. In 2005, about 24% of North American companies used offshore providers to meet some of their software needs, according to Forrester Research (FORR). Over the next five years, spending on offshore IT services is set to increase at a compound annual growth rate of 18%, according to IDC.

The effect in the U.S. is that starting salaries in the engineering field—when adjusted for inflation—have stayed constant or decreased in the past five years or so, says Vivek Wadhwa, executive in residence at Duke University. "It doesn't make much sense to get into programming anymore," says Wadhwa, who worries that a lack of talent in certain industries, such as telecom, along with the outsourcing of research and development will erode U.S. competitiveness (see BusinessWeek.com, 11/7/06, "The Real Problem with Outsourcing"). But U.S. companies say that hiring programmers in India, who might make a fifth of what programmers do in the U.S., allows the companies to survive in a globally competitive economy.

...

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http://www.businessweek.com/technology/con...