Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Friday, October 07, 2005
The day I saw almost everything (including Subway terrorism)
Middle management can be a tragedy. It’s just over the edge of knowing enough about how your organization works to actually accomplish things. To make modern management work, you have to promote from the shop floor, otherwise you get people with MBAs who apply the same set of rules to every problem. Doesn’t matter if they’re the right rules or not. They have diplomas that say they are.
I’ve always seen middle management before they’ve seen me, too, Mickey. When I’ve been noticed, it’s time to look for a new job.
Posted by Harry on from 10/07 at 07:51 AMMorning, Harry.
I’ve had jobs in gyms and, yes, even an office job or two and you’re right. Top-down management practically guarantees inefficiency and low morale. I’ve never had a job where the peons didn’t find themselves slack-jawed at the decisions being made by the higher-ups.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 08:09 AMMorning Mickey y todos…
Here’s Zirin on Tillman for anyone who hasn’t seen it:
On the 90-9 amendment vote and the $440 Billion military budget bill it was attached too...if I was an Iraqi/Afghan/Iranian/Syrian/(insert any other appropriate non-white here), I would be saying, “well, thanks, thanks for that basic human right, I’ll be a tiny bit less worried if I am arrested...but it’s what they are going to do with that $440 Billion that really scares me!”
“Who did I see?”
Well it was more like a what…
I was at the beach the other day enjoying the cool blue waters at Ocean Park beach and attempting to get some color to my freshly shaven chin when I heard a snorting sound behind me...I am not sure if he saw me or I saw him (or was it a her?) first...but there he was, a 75 pound, white-haired, pink-skinned pig.
A young girl was spritzing suntan lotion on him as he wagged his tail. All of sudden, he starting sprinting across the sand and stopped to sniff through someone’s bags on a blanket nearby. He had straps around his shoulders that a leash could be attached to...it was a pretty strange sight.
They led him to the water and he began to drop egg size pellets as he walked. Then I noticed what the half full plastic grocery store bag was for…
He soon began rolling around in the wet sand near the water and seemed as happy as a pig in...or rather at, the beach.
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 08:16 AMahh...looking forward to reading of fractals and the tetched excerpt from yesterday’s comments.
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 08:28 AMThanks for the Tillman link, JOS. How amazing would it be if he lived to come home and join Cindy Sheehan in protest?
So, you saw a pig on the beach? I wonder who saw you watching the pig.
As for “Tetched,” I must admit: I was surprised yesterday’s post didn’t provoke more comments. I invited Thad (the author) to join in, but there wasn’t much for him to reply to.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 08:31 AMI think there is a certain cooling off period going on amongst the Expendables...for one, I’m tired of it, because I need Internet conversation to keep me going throughout the day!
I’m starting the tetched excerpt now, but my first question would be: what’s a tetch?
My second, what are the normal signs seen in an apartment where recent self-abuse has occured?
more later…
I don’t suppose Thad could stop by today if time permits?
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 08:41 AMI’ll have more serious questions later, by the way…
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 08:42 AMTetched: Somewhat unbalanced mentally; touched.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 08:46 AMRe: the cooling off, JOS. I think much web-based communication is generated by nervous energy. It’s not sustainable over a long run. Even people who are full time writers need to step back.
There’s something to be learned from martial arts in coping with burn out. The best train to use the minimum energy needed to accomplish a goal, and only move fast or use strength when it’s needed. But they can keep moving practically forever.
Posted by Harry on from deleted 10/07 at 08:52 AMExcellent advice, Harry. Some who know me say that my writing voice is quite different than my spoken one. I am a slow talker...I take it easy...so I identify with what you said. Though I could use more bursts of physical energy…
From Tetched:
“The next time she came over, she yelled at me so loudly that a neighbor knocked on my door.
“Do you want me to call the police?” the neighbor asked.
“Yes,” I said.
“No,” my girlfriend said.”
I love that.
I just got busy here at work...I’ll be back soon.
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 08:58 AMI like to think of fractals now as poems…
“During a meal, a grande dame asked my name, and when I told her, she said, “You should drop your Polish name and use a Chinese name.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“Like Wong.”
“What about my first name?”
“Thelonius is okay.”
“Who would I be, then?”
“Thelonius Wong. You look like a Wong, or a Fong. Try Thelonius King Kong.”The excerpts were extremely funny and I really love the writing style...another book to buy.
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 10:12 AMback again after reading on fractals:
“ Just as fractal science analysed the ground between chaos and Euclidean order, fractal poetics could explore the field between gibberish and traditional forms. It could describe and make visible a third space: the nonbinary inbetween. Consider water. At low temperatures, it is fully ordered in the form of ice; at higher temperatures it becomes fluid and will not retain its shape. The stage between ice (order) and liquid (chaos) is called the transition temperature. Fractal poetics is interested in that point of metamorphosis, when structure is incipient, all threshold, a neither-nor.”
I am not sure if Thad would describe his writing in this way or not, but one writer comes to mind when reading Tetched and the above description: Kafka. Maybe Kafka with a sense of humor.
Anyway...hope to see some people here later on.
James
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 10:41 AMHi Mickey and JOS and Harry -
I once worked briefly for a temp-office agency. They placed me, for 2 weeks, with two little old lady middle-managers at AT&T. (This was a few months before the breakup, which was only whispered about in the halls...)
I created various forms on an IBM Correcting-Selectric typewriter, then Xeroxed them for their use. One day the two ladies were out of the office and the phone rang. I answered, and a guy asked me to take a message. I grabbed a pen and told him to go ahead. He said something about some forms he had for them, then he suddenly, in mid-sentence, stopped. There was a short silence, after which he asked in a slightly hushed voice: “Are you with the company?”
I told him I was a temp. He changed the message at once. He gave me his first name and his extension…I’ve traveled across the country, twice, on Greyhound buses. (Very inexpensive, very, very long ride.) As we went, I’d see people getting into their cars, or leaving shops, or waiting for a local bus, or hailing a cab. I’d “take in” their image, and think to myself that they had been briefly watched by someone they’d never see, never know, and they’d never even know it happened. Somehow, sometimes, it seemed strangely poignant…
Posted by joe on from behind the tree 10/07 at 10:43 AMJust trying to post another comment. I’ve read the comments here & appreciate them. Very nice of everyone.
Thad RutkowskiPosted by thad rutkowski on from new york 10/07 at 10:54 AMHey everyone. Welcome, Thad. Your excellent book is being appreciated here.
Joe: How’s the writing going?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 11:34 AMGuten Tag, Mickey and all the others on this comment thread!
And I could not agree more with what you say re Bloomberg angling for more votes with the terror alert.
The middle management quip is too true - I have dealt with more than a few of them ..
A good weekend to not only the ‘owner’ of this site but to everybody else who reads this!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 10/07 at 02:24 PMGod damn, the NYTs sucks. Most recent example is the following headline:
Rove ORDERED to talk again in leak inquiry
By avid Johnston, New York Times, October 7, 2005When actually, he ASKED to testify because he is most likely about to be indicted:
By Lawrence O’Donnell, Huffington Post, October 6, 2005
This just in from the AP:
Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th-hour testimony in the case of a CIA officer’s leaked identity but have warned they cannot guarantee he won’t be indicted, according to people directly familiar with the investigation.
What this means is Rove’s lawyer, Bob Luskin, believes his client is defintely going to be indicted.
Posted by JOS on from Isla Grande Airport 10/07 at 03:23 PMhere’s a funny quote cursor.org pulled from a Hardball transcript:
DNC Chairman Howard Dean said that “certainly the president can claim executive privilege” in withholding documents pertaining to Harriet Miers. “But in this case, I think with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court, you can’t play, you know, hide the salami, or whatever it’s called.”
Posted by JOS on from PR 10/07 at 05:24 PMSo that explains Bush’s choice. He and Harriet have been playing hide the salami. It all makes sense now.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 05:46 PMHi Mickey & JOS & HELGA -
“Executive Privilege,”
is that a cutsie concept, or what?
Government is just chock full of such “refuges from reality.”In addition to “Privilege” of various sorts, they’ve got “top secret” stuff and “classified” stuff and “national security” stuff and “limited access” policies…
Orwell himself couldn’t make this stuff up!There’s some AIPAC case going on, right now, in which people were arrested after wiretap information revealed that they had incriminated themselves. However, the government will not allow the defendants to introduce THEIR OWN STATEMENTS from the wiretap transcripts, because the law says that “they don’t have to unless the statements can exonerate the accused,” and, says the government, these statements don’t exonerate them…
How’s that for twisted?
Ya gotta love these guys. DiNiro himself couldn’t say these things out loud and keep a straight face…Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/07 at 07:37 PMYeah, it’s all bullshit. I used to cover city council, county govern., BOE, etc. meetings for the local paper, and these guys would go in the back room to talk, shutting us out, and call it “Executive Session” - except that there is no such thing. They can legitimately talk privately only about personnel matters and legal issues that get attorney-client privilege. But they would very officiously say “we’re going into Executive Session now” as if that made it okay… it’s all bullshit.
Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 10/07 at 07:47 PMHey Joe. Good stuff and dead on. What I’ve been laughing at today is Bush’s claim that the U.S. has recently foiled ten terrorist plots. What a concept. Since he’s doing it, I’m here to tell all the Expendables that I just learned of a scheme to launch a virus at all those who comment here. But fear not, I foiled that evil plot...but, sorry, I just can’t offer any further information (for security reasons, of course). So, just thank me and sleep well tonight.
Speaking of sleeping well, the Red Sox have been swept out of the playoffs.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 07:49 PMSorry, John. We must have been typing at the same time. Do you feel safer knowing I’m working hard to protect you against all the evil-doers out to get you?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 07:51 PMAh yes! ‘Tis a great calmative… but some weird progammed thing called Musica has been leaving messages on my blog - about six today, trying to get me to respond to some kind of blog service or something. I don’t know how to stop it.
Re: Thad - enjoyed the excerpts, and am fascinated by the idea of fractal poetry. Am wondering if any of you have read Michael Ondatje’s two multi-genre books, “Coming through Slaughter” and “The Collected Works of Billy the Kid” ? Especially “Coming...,” which is a very poetic account of the life of Buddy Belden, one of the first great jazz cornet players in New Orleans, who was declared insane and incarcerated. The technique is something like I get from Thad’s excerpts…
Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 10/07 at 08:06 PManyone else see dancer in the dark? http://imdb.com/title/tt0168629/
I’VE SEEN IT ALL by Björk, Sjón & Lars von Trier
I’ve seen it all, I have seen the trees,
I’ve seen the willow leaves dancing in the breeze
I’ve seen a friend killed by a friend,
And lives that were over before they were spent.
I’ve seen what I was - I know what I’ll be
I’ve seen it all - there is no more to see!You haven’t seen elephants, kings or Peru!
I’m happy to say I had better to do
What about China? Have you seen the Great Wall?
All walls are great, if the roof doesn’t fall!And the man you will marry?
The home you will share?
To be honest, I really don’t care…You’ve never been to Niagara Falls?
I have seen water, its water, that’s all…
The Eiffel Tower, the Empire State?
My pulse was as high on my very first date!
Your grandson’s hand as he plays with your hair?
To be honest, I really don’t care…I’ve seen it all, I’ve seen the dark
I’ve seen the brightness in one little spark.
I’ve seen what I chose and I’ve seen what I need,
And that is enough, to want more would be greed.
I’ve seen what I was and I know what I’ll be
I’ve seen it all - there is no more to see!You’ve seen it all and all you have seen
You can always review on your own little screen
The light and the dark, the big and the small
Just keep in mind - you need no more at all
You’ve seen what you were and know what you’ll be
You’ve seen it all - there is no more to see!off topic: don’t sneeze or they will shoot. http://tinyurl.com/d543l
another off topic: http://tinyurl.com/ab5qq
according to the article nestle will spend £1million to advertise it’s fair trade coffee.from babymilkaction.org:Nestlé spends over £130 per second attempting to persuade people to buy its products (more than US$7 billion per year). Source: Tribune de Geneve, 17 October 1997
how much of this budget will they continue to spend promoting poison in the third world?whoever saw a laid back rabbit drinking chocolate milk from a straw anyway?
Posted by tm on from under ice 10/07 at 08:12 PMJohn: I haven’t read the books you mention but will now. Thanks.
TM: I saw “Dancer” in the theater when it came out. It stayed with me a long, long time.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 08:16 PMSorry, I spelled his name wrong: Ondaatje (two a’s) - he’s Canadian Ceylonese…
Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 10/07 at 08:23 PMLET’S GO YANK-EES!
Posted by JOS on from PR 10/07 at 08:36 PMBut how about the White Sox sweeping the BoSox! Trip! Joe is rolling over...!
Posted by John Eden on from Georgia 10/07 at 08:39 PMit was sweet watching the wrong colored sox celebrating on the fenway grass!
Posted by JOS on from PR 10/07 at 08:43 PMnow the yanks have to rebound from a horrible RJ start…
Posted by JOS on from PR 10/07 at 08:45 PMHi Mickey and John and TM -
Mickey, whatever you did, it certainly worked. I just scanned my computer, and - just as you claimed! - it’s virus free.
I saw Dancer in the Dark, also. I’ll never forget it, or how disturbed I felt while watching it.John, the space above this line, which seems empty, is actually an executive session report. It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are guilty!
Nestle spends 130 pounds a second on advertising?
At that rate, they could feed all the hungry people in the world in a month or so, and receive astonishingly good press. They won’t, tho, because it would create a dreaded “good example,” the ultimate corporate horror…Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/07 at 08:47 PMLooking better now, guys. 5-4 with plenty of time left.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 08:47 PM“They” were specifically targeting you, Joe, but I was able to handle it. My suggestion is that you say three Hail Marys and sing two National Anthems.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 08:49 PMHi JOS - didn’t see ya.
Yeah, it doesn’t look good for the pinstripes, right now. I hate the thought of LA winning.Posted by joe on from Oregon 10/07 at 08:50 PMHey Joe...we just tied it up with a big base hit by the series MVP so far...Robinson (as in Jackie) Cano!
Posted by JOS on from PR 10/07 at 09:01 PM“My suggestion is that you say three Hail Marys and sing two National Anthems.”
I find that making the sign of the cross over my computer is most effective against virus possession.
Posted by JOS on from PR 10/07 at 09:33 PMJust resist the temptation to sprinkle holy water.
Night, all.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 10/07 at 10:05 PM
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