Fool me once?

Human Performance tools are varied, but one that works in everyday life as well as professional life is QV&V - Qualify, Validate and Verify.

One way to think of QV&V is as a contiual loop of:  Observe, Analyze, Act.

• Observe your surroundings (what has changed)
• Analyzing what you "see" (what has been done so far)
• Acting on this information (address new issues, communicate changes and continue the task)

Your environment will change as you progress through your task, your day, or your life.  It is important to monitor the information available to you (continuous self-feedback), to recognize hazards and make appropriate adjustements.

The most important aspect of this to me is: Trust, but Verify.  As the old idiom goes, "Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me"

Science Scene - Deep Sea Tourism???

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson enjoys promoting the future of space tourism and encouraging biofuel development. And if you're very lucky (or wealthy), he'll let you take his prototype submersible called the "Necker Nymph" out for a spin.

The carbon-fiber submarine resembles an underwater airplane with "wind shields" that remove slipstream pressure, and incorporates fighter jet technology and "wings" to move up or down. Branson eventually hopes to explore depths of 35,000 feet, or greater than the height of Mount Everest. But the $669,000 vehicle designed by Hawkes Ocean Technologies can only currently dive to 130 feet.  Guests on Branson's Necker Island hideaway can supposedly hire out the Nymph for $25,000 a week to check out dolphin pods or catch a glimpse of shipwrecks.  Full article here.
 
A tad out of my price range, but it would be absolutely awesome :o)

Another Reason to not like Walmart :o(

As a clown, I have to admit that there is nothing I find funny about this commercial.

Making people laugh is a great thing, and to further denigrate a fine profession for the sake of some meager sales increase for party favors is not my cup of tea.  Having said that, another reason to not like Tea Baggers :o)

Saints pray harder, God gives them Super Bowl

Saints pray harder, God gives them Super Bowl

It was a good game, and the Saints deserve the victory.

More accidents for pizza drivers during Super Bowl

More accidents for pizza drivers during Super Bowl

On this busiest day of the year for pizza delivery, the risk of injury makes deliveryman one of the most hazardous jobs.

We are doing snack food tonight, how about you?

Sunday Silliness - Opportunity :o)

I am Dr. Adewole Aremu- a director with the Union Bank of Nigeria in Lagos - and I wish to speak to you most urgently about a matter regarding the sum of $39,000,000 US Dollars...

Girl Scout Cookie Economics

Recent years, especially as my co-workers and I age, has seen a decline in the amount of Girl Scout cookies that enter into our household.  This is good on several levels. First, not sure I need to many of those tasty little cookies crossing my lips. Second, dollar for dollar, I think there are better ways to support your local community.  On the flip side, a box or two to help these fledgling entrepeneurs (teach them finances, leadership, strong values, social conscience, and conviction about their own potential and self-worth), their chapters, and our community cannot be bad.  I usually pick up a box or two when these little treasures are available outside one of our local businesses. 

It appears that cookies first become available 1/16/2010, and sales will continue into March in a variety of methods and venues.  To learn more about this program, go to http://www.girlscouts.org/program/gs_cookies/. 


Using an average of $3.50 per box as an example, here's a breakdown of how the money is spent.

For each box sold, 85 cents per box goes to the baker to cover production, packaging, shipping of the cookies to the troop, and other incidental costs.

Out of the remaining $2.65, 50 to 57 cents goes to the selling troop (cost of prizes comes out of this portion of the proceeds), which will use the funds to cover the cost of programming, community service projects and scholarships, and to offset the cost of participating in Girl Scouts.

Of the remaining funds, about 1 penny per box goes to the neighborhood "service unit" -- another level of scouting -- and stays within the community.

The rest goes to the regional council, which is usually comprised of numerous troops that are located near each other, this remaining $2.14 to $2.07 is used to fund local programming, support summer camps, train adult volunteers, and so on.

Contrary to urban legends, the proceeds from Girl Scout cookie sales are not funneled to the national scouting organization. "Girl Scouts of the USA has a deal in place in which they receive royalties directly from the two national bakers of the cookies," Ceravolo says. "The regional councils do not send cookie money to the national organization."

 

My favorite are the Samoas, how about you?
 
 
 
 
Original post on at Walletpop

Science Scene - Underground Radio Transmission

Science fair projects don't get much cooler than a texting device that broke the record for deepest known underground digital communication in the United States. Such a device may help save people trapped deep underground and even allow scientists to conduct remote cave research, all thanks to a teen inventor from Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Alexander Kendrick, 16, headed to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico to test his device almost 1,000 feet underground. His invention involves a computer attached to a ham radio that transmits data using low-frequency radio waves. By contrast, high-frequency transmissions used in FM broadcasts have a harder time penetrating solid rock.

Kendrick's team climbed down to 946 feet, before they assembled a 6-foot-wide radio antenna out of PVC tubing and wire. Kendrick's dad had hiked to a spot directly above the team on the surface and awaited a message.

The younger Kendrick then typed the word "happy" on a rubber keyboard, and "appy" appeared on the small screen aboveground being held by his father.

The effort won Kendrick the 2009 International Science Fair, along with a new computer, a Switzerland trip and $12,000. He hopes to make the radio more portable and durable for rescue crews, as well as for scientists who would want to monitor cave environments remotely.

If that doesn't inspire young people to try their hand at becoming high school inventors, we don't know what will.

This was also featured on NPR, and there is a good write-up and the audio here [via NPR]

I would imagine that this could help rescue miners in the future as well.

Go Red Tomorrow (Friday 2/5/10)

Go Red For Women is a movement passionately dedicated to helping women fight back against heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women in America. By putting our passion together with positive action, we can continue to educate other women about their risks and help them find their own personal path to better health for life.

For more information, go to the American Heart Association - Go Red For Women website.

I am going to wear red tomorrow, how about you???

FMCSA bans texting while driving commercial vehicles

Recently, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an interim regulatory measure that bans all texting while driving a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) on public roads in interstate commerce. This ban is effective immediately.


The FMCSA will complete a more formal notice-and-comment rulemaking later in 2010.

The ban applies to CMVs subject to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs), which includes vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds in interstate commerce on public roads. This includes all vehicles which require a Commercial Driver's License (CDL) to operate, as well as lighter trucks which could include heavier rated pick-up trucks.

Texting can only be done by a driver when the vehicle is off the roadway and parked in a legal and safe area.



This ban does not prohibit texting by a passenger and does not prohibit texting by the driver while not driving. Again, the vehicle should be off of the roadway, parked in a legal and safe manner.

This is effective immediately.  Personally, I think this is a great idea.