From: steveu on
>Tim Wescott <tim(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote in
>news:MZOdnTlMb9jXyYvRnZ2dnUVZ_uSdnZ2d(a)web-ster.com:
>
>> On 06/13/2010 06:42 PM, Randy Yates wrote:
>>> Does anyone remember these? I used to love reading these, apparently
in
>>> Electronic Products, way back when. I find one on the web just tonight
>>> and thought I'd share it in case anyone had similar warm feelings for
>>> these old chestnuts from Bob.
>>>
>>> http://www.national.com/rap/Story/0,1562,18,00.html
>>
>> I liked that shtick at the beginning, but when then he started digging
>> through the nice rich compost and into the fresh manure, and I started
>> thinking someone need to write a critique titled "What's all this
>> 'What's all this Stuff' Stuff, Anyway?"
>>
>> Stories about analog design -- very interesting.
>>
>> Stories about life as an app engineer -- interesting.
>>
>> Stories about engineers vs. management (if he did any) -- interesting.
>>
>> Stories about his stupid Volkswagen bug, and how clever he is to keep it

>> running -- heard em' all from better raconteurs, boring as hell.
>>
>> Ditto on brags about climbing in the Himalayas with his own personal
>> native guide, stories about near-retirement, etc. I don't know if I
>> ever saw one with details of his lower intestinal function, but I
>> wouldn't have been surprised (I just would have forgotten it as quickly

>> as possible).
>>
>
>I have met Bob Pease. He is a very pleasant man.
>
>I think that National Semi were idiots laying him off. They got way more
good
>will than his salary expense and probably lost a few customers who were
upset
>to see him go.
>
>Al Clark
>www.danvillesignal.com

Various studies conclude that someone being laid off has more to do with
who they have annoyed than their value to the organisation. Since people
who actually get off their butts and do something will probably have
annoying folk along the way, an organisation has a tendency to lay off its
most value people.

Steve

From: Tim Wescott on
On 06/14/2010 05:36 PM, steveu wrote:
>> Tim Wescott<tim(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote in
>> news:MZOdnTlMb9jXyYvRnZ2dnUVZ_uSdnZ2d(a)web-ster.com:
>>
>>> On 06/13/2010 06:42 PM, Randy Yates wrote:
>>>> Does anyone remember these? I used to love reading these, apparently
> in
>>>> Electronic Products, way back when. I find one on the web just tonight
>>>> and thought I'd share it in case anyone had similar warm feelings for
>>>> these old chestnuts from Bob.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.national.com/rap/Story/0,1562,18,00.html
>>>
>>> I liked that shtick at the beginning, but when then he started digging
>>> through the nice rich compost and into the fresh manure, and I started
>>> thinking someone need to write a critique titled "What's all this
>>> 'What's all this Stuff' Stuff, Anyway?"
>>>
>>> Stories about analog design -- very interesting.
>>>
>>> Stories about life as an app engineer -- interesting.
>>>
>>> Stories about engineers vs. management (if he did any) -- interesting.
>>>
>>> Stories about his stupid Volkswagen bug, and how clever he is to keep it
>
>>> running -- heard em' all from better raconteurs, boring as hell.
>>>
>>> Ditto on brags about climbing in the Himalayas with his own personal
>>> native guide, stories about near-retirement, etc. I don't know if I
>>> ever saw one with details of his lower intestinal function, but I
>>> wouldn't have been surprised (I just would have forgotten it as quickly
>
>>> as possible).
>>>
>>
>> I have met Bob Pease. He is a very pleasant man.
>>
>> I think that National Semi were idiots laying him off. They got way more
> good
>> will than his salary expense and probably lost a few customers who were
> upset
>> to see him go.
>>
>> Al Clark
>> www.danvillesignal.com
>
> Various studies conclude that someone being laid off has more to do with
> who they have annoyed than their value to the organisation. Since people
> who actually get off their butts and do something will probably have
> annoying folk along the way, an organisation has a tendency to lay off its
> most value people.
>
> Steve
>
Which is yet another reason why big companies are where Innovation Goes
to Die.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com
From: Tim Wescott on
On 06/14/2010 05:36 PM, steveu wrote:
>> Tim Wescott<tim(a)seemywebsite.now> wrote in
>> news:MZOdnTlMb9jXyYvRnZ2dnUVZ_uSdnZ2d(a)web-ster.com:
>>
>>> On 06/13/2010 06:42 PM, Randy Yates wrote:
>>>> Does anyone remember these? I used to love reading these, apparently
> in
>>>> Electronic Products, way back when. I find one on the web just tonight
>>>> and thought I'd share it in case anyone had similar warm feelings for
>>>> these old chestnuts from Bob.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.national.com/rap/Story/0,1562,18,00.html
>>>
>>> I liked that shtick at the beginning, but when then he started digging
>>> through the nice rich compost and into the fresh manure, and I started
>>> thinking someone need to write a critique titled "What's all this
>>> 'What's all this Stuff' Stuff, Anyway?"
>>>
>>> Stories about analog design -- very interesting.
>>>
>>> Stories about life as an app engineer -- interesting.
>>>
>>> Stories about engineers vs. management (if he did any) -- interesting.
>>>
>>> Stories about his stupid Volkswagen bug, and how clever he is to keep it
>
>>> running -- heard em' all from better raconteurs, boring as hell.
>>>
>>> Ditto on brags about climbing in the Himalayas with his own personal
>>> native guide, stories about near-retirement, etc. I don't know if I
>>> ever saw one with details of his lower intestinal function, but I
>>> wouldn't have been surprised (I just would have forgotten it as quickly
>
>>> as possible).
>>>
>>
>> I have met Bob Pease. He is a very pleasant man.
>>
>> I think that National Semi were idiots laying him off. They got way more
> good
>> will than his salary expense and probably lost a few customers who were
> upset
>> to see him go.
>>
>> Al Clark
>> www.danvillesignal.com
>
> Various studies conclude that someone being laid off has more to do with
> who they have annoyed than their value to the organisation. Since people
> who actually get off their butts and do something will probably have
> annoying folk along the way, an organisation has a tendency to lay off its
> most value people.

I think there are a lot of executive types who don't run things to
maximize profits -- they run things to maximize the image they have in
their heads of a certain organ they possess (and I'm not talking about
their brains).

Getting to lay off people who irritate you -- or worse, who make you
look small -- is a lot more valuable than money, if that's your mind set.

Note: there's a lot that aren't that way, and it's a good thing. But...

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com