"Goldbricker"

Meaning of Goldbricker

Anything of restricted or no value that is passed off as bona fide or important. A goldbricker is here and there used to allude to somebody who endeavors to evade work and/or obligations - as it were, a "good-for-nothing." The term starts from the deceitful practice of covering useless metals with gold. Today, it is regularly used to portray workers who utilization organization time to scour the web or perform other particular errands.

Investopedia clarifies Goldbricker

Goldbricking is assessed to cost organizations billions of dollars a year. A 2007 review by Salary.com uncovered that something like six out of 10 workers in the United States recognized squandering time at work. Web utilization was the heading time-squandering movement in the working environment, and 34% of respondents confessed to it. Representatives refered to fatigue, extended periods, absence of test and lacking pay as the explanations behind why they neglected to invest this time meeting expectations. The help of long range informal communication destinations like Myspace, Facebook and Twitter has just helped workers' propensities. As per the BBC, destinations like Facebook could be costing U.k.

Harold Pinter-Nobel Prize Winning Speech

Harold Pinter-Nobel Prize Winning Speech Highlights.

Harold Pinter, who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature this year, had the following to say in his acceptence speech.

...the United States had not only lied to justify waging war against Iraq but had also “supported and in many cases engendered every right-wing military dictatorship” in the last 50 years.

"I refer to Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, and El Salvador and, of course, Chile."

“The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them,” Pinter said. “You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.”

Pinter attacked American foreign policy since World War II, saying that while the crimes of the Soviet Union had been well documented, those of the United States had not. “I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road,” he said. “Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be, but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self-love.”

He spoke of language as an obscure of reality, saying that US leaders use it to anesthetise the public. “It’s a scintillating stratagem,” he said. “Language is actually employed to keep thought at bay. The words ‘the American people’ provide a truly voluptuous cushion of reassurance. You don’t need to think. Just lie back on the cushion. ”

Goldbricking

Goldbricking, in today's terms, generally refers to staff who use their work internet access for personal reasons while maintaining the appearance of working, which can lead to inefficiency. The term originates from the confidence trick of applying a gold coating to a brick of worthless metal - while the worker may appear industrious on the surface, in reality they are less valuable. It is also known as cyberslacking, "Buca-ing" cyberloafing or cyberbludging.

Some estimate goldbricking costs employers $1 billion a year in computer resources Some employees do two non-work activities at once, a practice known as multishirking.

Instances of goldbricking have increased markedly since broadband Internet connections became commonplace in workplaces. Before that the slow speed of dial-up connections meant that the practice was rarely worthwhile. Many firms employ surveillance software to track employees' Internet activity in an effort to limit liability and improve productivity. Other methods used to reduce goldbricking include installation of proxy servers to prevent programs from accessing resources like Internet Relay Chat, AOL Instant Messenger, or some online gambling services, strict disciplinary measures for employees found goldbricking, and carrot and stick measures like providing free or subsidized Internet access for employees outside of working hours.

In modern usage, the practice is also known as cyberslacking, cyberloafing or cyberbludging

Keillor Sings It

From Truthout:

    Congress's Shameful Retreat From American Values
    By Garrison Keillor
    The Chicago Tribune

    Wednesday 04 October 2006

    I would not send my college kid off for a semester abroad if I were you. Last week, we suspended human rights in America, and what goes around comes around. Ixnay habeas corpus.

    The U.S. Senate, in all its splendor and majesty, decided that an "enemy combatant" is any non-citizen whom the president says is an enemy combatant, including your Korean greengrocer or your Swedish grandmother or your Czech au pair, and can be arrested and held for as long as authorities wish without any right of appeal to a court of law to examine the matter. If your college kid were to be arrested in Bangkok or Cairo, suspected of "crimes against the state" and held in prison, you'd assume that an American foreign service officer would be able to speak to your kid and arrange for a lawyer, but this may not be true anymore. Be forewarned.

    The Senate also decided it's up to the president to decide whether it's OK to make these enemies stand naked in cold rooms for a couple of days in blinding light and be beaten by interrogators. This is now purely a bureaucratic matter: The plenipotentiary stamps the file "enemy combatants" and throws the poor schnooks into prison and at his leisure he tries them by any sort of kangaroo court he wishes to assemble and they have no right to see the evidence against them, and there is no appeal. This was passed by 65 senators and will now be signed by President Bush, put into effect, and in due course be thrown out by the courts.

    It's good that Barry Goldwater is dead because this would have killed him. Go back to the Senate of 1964 - Goldwater, Dirksen, Russell, McCarthy, Javits, Morse, Fulbright - and you won't find more than 10 votes for it.

    None of the men and women who voted for this bill has any right to speak in public about the rule of law anymore, or to take a high moral view of the Third Reich, or to wax poetic about the American Ideal. Mark their names. Any institution of higher learning that grants honorary degrees to these people forfeits its honor. Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Burr, Carper, Chambliss, Coburn, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeMint, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Frist, Graham, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kyl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, McConnell, Menendez, Murkowski, Nelson of Florida, Nelson of Nebraska, Pryor, Roberts, Rockefeller, Salazar, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Specter, Stabenow, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Thune, Vitter, Voinovich, Warner.

    To paraphrase Sir Walter Scott: Mark their names and mark them well. For them, no minstrel raptures swell. High though their titles, proud their name, boundless their wealth as wish can claim, these wretched figures shall go down to the vile dust from whence they sprung, unwept, unhonored and unsung.

    Three Republican senators made a show of opposing the bill and after they'd collected all the praise they could get, they quickly folded. Why be a hero when you can be fairly sure that the court will dispose of this piece of garbage.

    If, however, the court does not, then our country has taken a step toward totalitarianism. If the government can round up someone and never be required to explain why, then it's no longer the United States as you and I always understood it. Our enemies have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They have made us become like them.

    I got some insight last week into who supports torture when I went down to Dallas to speak at Highland Park Methodist Church. It was spooky. I walked in, was met by two burly security men with walkie-talkies, and within 10 minutes was told by three people that this was the Bushes' church and that it would be better if I didn't talk about politics. I was there on a book tour for "Homegrown Democrat," but they thought it better if I didn't mention it. So I tried to make light of it: I told the audience, "I don't need to talk politics. I have no need even to be interested in politics - I'm a citizen, I have plenty of money and my grandsons are at least 12 years away from being eligible for military service." And the audience applauded! Those were their sentiments exactly. We've got ours, and who cares?

    The Methodists of Dallas can be fairly sure that none of them will be snatched off the streets, flown to Guantanamo Bay, stripped naked, forced to stand for 48 hours in a freezing room with deafening noise. So why should they worry? It's only the Jews who are in danger, and the homosexuals and gypsies. The Christians are doing fine. If you can't trust a Methodist with absolute power to arrest people and not have to say why, then whom can you trust?

Just for the sake of emphasis:

    None of the men and women who voted for this bill has any right to speak in public about the rule of law anymore, or to take a high moral view of the Third Reich, or to wax poetic about the American Ideal. Mark their names. Any institution of higher learning that grants honorary degrees to these people forfeits its honor. Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Burr, Carper, Chambliss, Coburn, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeMint, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Frist, Graham, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kyl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, McConnell, Menendez, Murkowski, Nelson of Florida, Nelson of Nebraska, Pryor, Roberts, Rockefeller, Salazar, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Specter, Stabenow, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Thune, Vitter, Voinovich, Warner.

Time to play the religious right’s favorite game — blame your enemies!

From DefCon:

    Family Research Council: Blame the Homosexuals!
    “But neither party seems likely to address the real issue, which is the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse.” Tony Perkins, President, Family Research Council

    The Foley Scandal “illustrates the dangers of the GOP’s growing flirtation with pro-homosexual policies.” Peter LaBarbera, Americans for Truth

    Gary Bauer & Focus on the Family Action: Blame the Left!
    The Foley revelations are “an attempt to discourage Christian conservative voters and to get some percentage of them to stay home so that the Left can retake the United States Senate and the United States House.” Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families

    “If any lasting cultural good could come out of this awful incident, it would be Americans discarding the politically correct notion fed to us by those on the left that obscenity is just another form of free speech.” Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family Action.

    Tony Perkins: Blame Tolerance and Diversity!
    “It’s outrageous, it’s shocking. But it shouldn’t be totally surprising when we hold up tolerance and diversity as the guidepost for public life this is what you end up getting.” Tony Perkins, Family Research Council

    Not all “diversity” should be accepted and not all conduct or beliefs should be “tolerated.” Wendy Wright, Concerned Women for America.

    “Maybe it’s time to question: when is tolerance just an excuse for permissiveness?” Tony Perkins, Family Research Council

    Focus on the Family: Blame the Internet!
    “This is yet another sad example of our society’s oversexualization, especially as it affects the Internet.” Tom Minnery, Focus on the Family.

    And the best of all….

    Human Life International: Blame….Planned Parenthood?
    “There is never an acceptable excuse or rationale for the type of deviant behavior former Congressman Mark Foley has admitted to. Homosexuality is every bit a part of the culture of death as is abortion and contraception. Not surprisingly, Foley was an ardent supporter of both, representing the interests of Planned Parenthood 64 percent of the time thus far in 2006.” Jason Jones, Human Life International.

How else could they have possibly reacted? We didn't think they'd actually think, or admit the conservative flunkies who legislate their bidding have done wrong, right? Classic.

Does Santorum's Ass Hurt?: One More Thing Coming Back and Biting It

Not that I enjoy imagining what Santorum's naked ass looks like, but I do imagine it looks a bit like a flavorless, well-chewed piece of Bazooka bubble gum by now. Here's what pRick (with a silent "P") said about the long-running priest abuse scandal in Boston:

    "When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political, and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm."

I imagine he's whistling a whole different tune with this pedaFoley thing. Here's a good venting from Boston Globe columnist, Brian McGory.

    So, of course, I find it surprising -- no, make that shocking -- that the center of the storm has shifted from Boston to, of all places, Capitol Hill, and not just any part of Capitol Hill but specifically the offices of the Republican congressional leadership.

    The scandal in Washington so mirrors what's happened in Boston and other Catholic dioceses the nation over to the point of being surreal. A rank-and-file member of an organization does wrong by a minor. The hierarchy, in turn, does nothing. Now, rather than a priest, it's a 52-year-old Republican congressman -- or make that a former congressman, given Mark Foley's resignation on Friday. Foley, by the way, has pulled the Patrick Kennedy defense, checking himself into rehab, as if everyone is supposed to applaud the courage of self-awareness.

And the best line of all:

    The guy doesn't need a new strategy, he needs a different personality.

Too true, McGory, too true! 35 days 'til elections...