text: Much easier to just have one to take care of! Katrina & Dan Martin 71'bus "Homer" http://web.mac.com/danandkatrinamartin/ http://ical.mac.com/danandkatrinamartin/Volks32Shows On Tuesday, April 01, 2008, at 09:08AM, <a1992cabbygirl@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >How many of the people on the list can say they owned 2 vws under the age of >20.? I didn't have one until I was 27, and that was a 1971 orange squareback. >I think you are cool to have both.? Hope to see one of them at the Classic - >in 3 weeks!!!! >Emily > > >-----Original Message----- >From: Eric Woodall <eric@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >Sent: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 8:42 am >Subject: [tcb] Re: Proud New Owner! > > > >Bahhh, beetle smeetle... >Sell it and fix up the bus! > >Shelby Shook wrote: >> I'm now the proud new owner of a little blue beetle. Dad decided he >> just didn't want it any more and wanted to get a new car, so he just >> gave it to me. I'm pretty much in shock. It really is a nice car and >> he really liked it. But this also means that I have to fix up the bus >> on my on with my own money. I'm kind of thinking of selling it but I >> love it too much. It's pretty damn cool owning matching cars hahaha. > > > >


text: from http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=19804 revberaldo wrote: src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/TeXMath.hs:91:46: Not in scope: data constructor `ESubsup' src/Text/Pandoc/Readers/TeXMath.hs:92:15: Not in scope: data constructor `EText' ==> ERRO: Uma falha ocorreu em build(). Abortando... ==> ERRO: Makepkg não conseguiu compilar pandoc. In Portuguese, it means that an error has happened in build(), and that pandoc couldn't be compiled. Any ideas why? Thank you! --- If you no longer wish to receive notifications about this package, please go the the above package page and click the UnNotify button.

subset: commoncrawl


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How to get a job at Shopko.
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|Comments (8)
Do you work at Shopko? How did you find the job? How did you get that first interview?
Any advice for someone trying to get in?
Judy Griese in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
112 months ago
yes i just got a job there. they are opening a store near us so i applied online and they called me back and set up an interview.
So just go to shopko online click on careers or jobs and then apply to one in your area.
Good luck, with your enthusiasm for the job, you could definetley get it!
Lisa Ray in Nampa, Idaho
107 months ago
Looking to apply at shopko in nampa ID 83687
Heygirlhey in Crete, Nebraska
101 months ago
You don't want a job there trust me.
kaliaaa in Wisconsin
99 months ago
Well I was looking for a job for about a month after I quit the horrible horrible place called Aeropostale. Applied to many place and out of 7 places I got 3 interviews which were Sears, Charlotte Russe, and Shopko. Charlotte Russe I would have died to work there because I love the clothes but I didnt get it :(, but all good things happen for a reason. I randomly applied to Shopko for no reason at all I was just thinking Shopko is 5 mins away from my house so I'll just apply there for fun. I went online did the application and the questions really fast...haha...then in about 2-3 days(I forget) I got called for an interview. I was really shocked but 2 days after my interview I had an interview with Sears. I didnt go to the sears interview because of all these comments on this site about Sears workplace and ethics and how messed up they were. I guess I was just hoping for the Shopko interview to work out. Well I went to my interview got asked like 8 questions then she told me that she will call me if my background check comes in okay. Well about 3 days passed before she called me again and I got the job :). That was good cause I was definitely relying on getting this job. Well this is my first day of training and I must say I love it :)!!!!!!!! Everyone here is soooooo super duper nice. All my superiors are nice and environment is just respectful and friendly. That makes it even better to work here. Im glad I quit aeropostale to find a better paying job, better manager and supervisor and better workplace environment for me. At shopko I can feel at ease and know that my Shopko is one of the best in treating thier employees while doing thier job and getting respect from customers. I just love it here and can't wait for more days to come!
Juliska in Rice Lake, Wisconsin
47 months ago
Host said: Do you work at Shopko? How did you find the job? How did you get that first interview?
I applied online on a Friday and a manager phoned me for an interview 3 days later. That was a pleasant surprise.
I think 2 things helped me get the job:
1) In the interview I said I'd already been a loyal Shopko customer for 10 years, so I already knew the general layout of the store and where to find things. I was/am a loyal customer because I really do think Shopko treats 3ustomers well and keeps a neat, clean, well-stocked store.
2) I've also been getting my prescriptions there for the past 10 years; therefore 2 pharmacists knew me, and I also knew them from church and local kids' sports. I told them I was going for a job there and even asked them to consider putting in a good word for me. Not sure if either one did.
3) I dropped off a hand written thank you note at the service desk a few days after the interview and asked the person to pass it on to my interviewer. I told 2 friends I did this and they were surprised I did so. They'd never thought to do that in their job hunting adventures. That surprised *me*. I'd often read and heard that this is an important thing to do. Doing this might have helped more than usual because customer service, friendliness, good manners are stressed very much.
Former shopko employee and shopper in Green Bay, Wisconsin
39 months ago
First you have to ask yourself if you REALLY want a job there.
Lisa in Great Bend, Kansas
20 months ago
Juliska in Rice Lake, Wisconsin said: I applied online on a Friday and a manager phoned me for an interview 3 days later. That was a pleasant surprise.
You really nailed it. Once you see past the usual negative, disgruntled employees (they work everywhere), the Culture and Motto of the Company is "Customer Service First" Shopko takes Customer Service to the extreme in that the Shopko Foundation pours money into their employees/customer's Communities through back channels and trusted key employees.
» Sign in or create an account to comment on this topic.


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Same token though, I think this week Hines would've been happy with say straight 1's - he was happier that his partner was not severely hurt or dancing.
The problem I have here though is that IF Chelsea were such a good dancer - and I do mean her and not Mark dancing around her, WHY did they need to do the winner take all? I've never felt with any of the ringers - Nicole, Jennifer Grey, Kirstie Yamaguchi, etc. needed any help anyway in order to win their trophies.Chelsea has done a very good job and is certainly equal to Hines and Kirstie and therefore deserving of a spot in the finale. I would hate to see her lose should she and Mark give the best performance just because people don't like Mark.
I also don't condone what is IMHO breaking the rules of dance and doing your own thing. If Mark and Chelsea had presented their cha-cha at a professional contest, they'd been last if not DQ'd for the stunts they pulled (swing/hip-hop). Yes, I understand this is NOT a real contest, but I feel that it should be treated more in line with a pro contest and have some standards. Rewarding flat out not doing a cha-cha with 15 points (more than they can get on a single paddle for a regular dance) to me is having no standards.
Another aspect of this show originally though was to take dancers and try to see who could be improved the most. Going by this, all but Chelsea in the final four were deserving of this title. Chelsea had the most experience than the others IMHO.I believe Chelsea and Hines are overall better dancers than Ralph-yes, he got screwed, but has he given consistently better performances than Hines and Chelsea? IMO, no.
And as someone mentioned - Ralph is 49, Kirstie is 60. Hines and Chelsea are younger - even if Hines was say in his 30s. That factors in as far as the "consistency."
My opinion - yes. She gave consistent performances, even if a couple it was consistent malfunction/trip.Kirsti has certainly shown herself to be a better dancer than most of the population, including those much younger than her. Watching Her and Maks dance has been a joy and their chemistry on the dance floor is palpable. But does she necessarily deserve to be in the final three. I don't know (and she's my favorite!)
Chris I don't think so. Romeo was screwed by the Mark/Chelsea issue. People could argue Ralph, but as long as he was cleared to dance, I don't think it'd been right to have him drop out for Romeo to have a chance.A good argument could be made that Romeo or even Chris Jericho deserved a finale spot. But thems the breaks in a show that isn't an actual dance competioton.
I do think that Romeo and Chelsea were better too than Mark and the Disney Chelsea. It should've been a fun final four, without the C/M duo factoring in.
I concede this, but I would much rather have a dancer people LIKE winning. People do not like Mike and many do not know who Chelsea is or are like me feeling that she now feels entitled to the win. Guess the one concession I have here is that the other person I felt that acted this way and hadn't won yet was the year when Donny Osmond won.I mean, when you have arbitrary, every changing rules from the judges and then rely on the public to vote `objectively', you aren't going to necessarily wind up with the best team crowned the winner.
If Mark and Chelsea do not break the rules again in what is a specific dance (as they do dance normally a redemption dance and free) and have an excellent free, then I'll agree with this. If he continues to break rules and they keep giving him kudos for it, I will feel the win is cheapened.So, may the best team, despite the hodge podge of things which make up this show, win (whoever that turns out to be).
I mean - If I were Mark I'd be embarrassed to know the only reason I'm in this season is because of a change in the game to have a winner take all game that is so unfair I'd say that anyone winning it - even my favorites (which out of the top five is all but Chelsea) won it.


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New engine
found myself in need of a G-62ish engine for an upcoming plane i've been drawing up so i went digging through the junk at a local saw shop. amongst all the crap there was a reasonably decent husqvarna 61 that looked like it had been run over. got it tore down and was surprised to see that the cylinder looked brand new on the outside...just a hair of black near the exhaust but the rest was bare clean metal, no oil, no sawdust. never, ever seen a saw this clean...especially not one that's 25 years old.
anyhow, got inside the saw and the cylinder, piston and ring looked very good, well run in but no scoring or globs of baked carbon. then i got down into the case and things started looking very different: major rotting of the magnesium around the crank bearings. i can only assume that this is because the bearing bores are machined after the case is painted and therefore don't have any corrosion protection from whatever nasty stuff gets put into today's gasoline. looked like just pressing out a bearing would destroy the whole case....can't use this crap.
it was then that i remembered that i have a couple of bridgeports, lathes and other machine shop related equipment surrounding me
hasn't run yet, still need to sort out the ignition, carb and get some props but the hard part is over. more pics and details to come...
was going to contour the case like everyone else does with their bar stock cases but the only rotary table i have for the mill has been in pieces under the bench for a few years now....and i'm doing all this manually, no CNC....so i chose the lightening hole method and was surprised that it actually weighs less than the contoured case would due to the very thin walls i could get away with. probably more rigid as well.
on both halves the bearing bore was counter bored for the bearing retainers which are loctited and staked in place. the front one is also pinned and the rear one also closes off the case.
more parts.
decided that even though most multi screw hubs are smooth i wanted this one to have teeth. maybe a bit safer but mainly i just wanted to try doing it. since i suck at knurling i went with cut "gnarls" instead
also notice the broached keyway in the hub. don't really need it as the taper actually does all the hub holding duties but it will make it easier to re-time the engine if i ever need to tear it down. this was done on the bridgeport...actually everything was done on the bridgeport: all of the turning including the hub taper.
and some of the complete engine so far. the fins on the jug were cut way down and this saved over 4 ounces. was kinda ugly after the milling and filing and since i have no way to bead blast it back to a nice uniform finish i just hit it with high temp spray paint...hey, at least it's not "air hobbies" red
and yes, i know i'm missing the carb insulator block. i just put that carb on for the photos and to weigh it to see how it compares to other engines. i will be making up my own carb for use with methanol and it should also be a whole lot lighter than the tillotson which is exactly 5 ounces without any insulator.
so right now with the CM-6 plug, no ignition and no muffler it weighs almost exactly 64 ounces.....my ignition will add about 1.5-2 ounces and the new carb will be about 3 ounces lighter than the tillotson. mounts? don't need no stinking mounts, four screws through the firewall into the engine case with some 10mm thick aluminum washers as spacers...shouldn't add any weight. so that should put me in the ball park of the G-62 "lite", which is good considering that the zenoah probably has a lighter crank and cylinder than this engine.
how will it do power wise? don't know but since i'll be burning methanol i hope it'll at least be equal to the G-62. i've dropped the cylinder to get the squish as tight as i dare and cut the exhaust and transfers to gain back the duration lost to lowering the jug. on the degree wheel the numbers look good:
exhaust: 154 deg. duration
transfers: 118 deg duration
intake: 144 deg. duration
we shall see
Looks like a new one. Be sure to let us know if it works. I just got ahold of a Husqvarna 125B 28cc leaf blower. I'm looking to see if it can fly and worth the conversion. It is so new it looks off the shelf. Got it for $10 at a local surplus outlet, Grandview Outlets. $150 average new price.
One idea is to make it a .90 gasser heli conversion for sport flying. One or two lbs shouldn'y affect it, I hear a 90 can lift 15 lbs.
Nice work Zagnut. I just discovered your blog.
I look forward to any other pics.
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TAG: Oh
I Want My Tennis Channel!
13 Comments · Posted by Dan Markowitz in Bios, Dan M
Continue to read full article...
Tennis Channel, the station that brings coverage of all the four majors in the sport plus 70 tournaments and Davis Cup, has been blacked out to millions in the New York-area. This occurred at the start of the second week of the U.S. Open when the network cut its access to two of the largest cable networks in the country, Cablevision and Verizon Fios. As part of the National Cable Televison Cooperative (NCTC), Cablevision and Verizon both aired Tennis Channel until September 4 of last year when Tennis Channel pulled its feed off of the two cable giants, "demanding significantly higher fees," said Cablevision in a statement.
The Five Most Exciting Players I've Seen In My Lifetime
25 Comments · Posted by Dan Markowitz in Bios, Dan M
Continue to read full article...
I've seen a lot of exciting players play. I remember watching Arthur Ashe, and while he was conservative in demeanor and appearance, certainly early in his career (he did have his later period where he grew his Afro out and wore a beaded necklace), he had a pretty flashy game. He liked to spank his forehand and backhand and rush the net.


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An amazing ending to an amazing story. I'm sad to see the end, but at the same time, I was excited to find out how everything closed. You've got lots of talent, and I look forward to reading and reviewing whatever else you choose to write!
Author's Response: All I can say is I'm very flattered! Thank you so much for reviewing and reading, you encouraged me to write more than I thought I would. I'm sad to see the end as well, but happy in the way that it's finally done! :) I will always continue to write--you can expect more from me in the future. Who knows? Maybe I'll put Bree's plot bunny to use. -Fay


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In Greek mythology, Metis was the spouse of Zeus and mother of Athena, goddess of wisdom.
METIS is also the proposed mid-infrared imager and spectrograph for the European ELT, Europe's next-generation ground-based telescope for optical and infrared (IR) wavelengths. Covering the L, M and N bands, METIS will offer imaging, coronagraphy and medium-resolution spectroscopy over the full wavelength range (3-19 microns), and high-resolution integral field spectroscopy in L and M bands (3-5 microns).
METIS is one of the three first instruments for the European
Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), and the only instrument to cover
wavelengths beyond 3 microns. The phase-A conceptual study, which ran
from May 2008 to December 2009 and led to the unique instrument
concept, has been followed by a series of technology development
projects. The Agreement for the design and construction of METIS with ESO was signed on 28 September 2015.
These pages contain information on the project and the consortium, the exciting new science METIS will enable and the design concept for the instrument. For more info, contact our PI Dr. Bernhard Brandl.


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17.17 Decrease of inter-region claim on water
Supporting Information
The volume presented in the water accounting statements (10,084 ML) represents the decrease to the claim that Melbourne retail authorities City West Water, South East Water and Yarra Valley Water are entitled to under:
- Bulk Entitlements for Thomson Reservoir and Silver and Wallaby Creeks
- agreement for water held in Lake Eildon.
The following table presents the breakdown of decreases to inter-region claims for the Melbourne Region during 2010–11.
|Volume (ML)
|Evaporation from share of Thomson Reservoir
|Decrease of claim on Silver and Wallaby Creeks
|Evaporation from share of Lake Eildon
Quantification Approach
Data Source
Provided by
Decreases to inter-region claims held by the Melbourne region were calculated using the following methods:
There were no decreases to the inter-region claim on water from Silver and Wallaby Creeks during the 2010–11 year.
Five percent of the water held in Lake Eildon for the Melbourne region is subtracted on 01 July each year to account for annual evaporation, as per the Carryover for water shares in the Murray, Goulburn and Campaspe water systems 2010.
Assumptions, Limitations, Caveats and Approximations
Uncertainty Information
The uncertainty estimate was not quantified.


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;) i'm a new to quilting. so i hope this does'nt sound dump. i never hear or have read anything about the the grain of the fabric . does it matter if its on the straight grain or not. please help,i'm lost.
Welcome to the Quilting Board!
;) i'm a new to quilting. so i hope this does'nt sound dump. i never hear or have read anything about the the grain of the fabric . does it matter if its on the straight grain or not. please help,i'm lost.
You do want to cut your pieces on the grain. If you cut on the "cross grain," this is referred to as cutting on the bias.
When making bias cuts, the edges of your pieces can stretch and distort through handling/sewing and pressing. So it is best to avoid these cuts whenever possible.
You can't avoid bias cuts when cutting triangular or round shapes, just handle these pieces carefully :D:D:D
it is very important to cut your fabric on-grain...if you cut bias it will stretch out of shape and be a bugger to work with.
First of all, welcome to quilting! You will quickly find yourself addicted to this site, and the people on here are so very helpful.
Straight of grain vs. bias:
When you hold the fabric with the selvage on the top, like a square, straight of grain is in a north-south or east-west direction. Bias is a northeast-southwest or northwest-southeast direction. The bias will also have more stretch to it, which is great for some applications, but basic quilt squares (esp triangles as at least one side will always be on the bias) may stretch a tad when sewing.
My non-quilting mother always told me the more you pin, the more stable it remains, so don't be afraid to pin...
And good luck! Enjoy and allow yourself to make mistakes, that's how we learn. Make a practice piece for new techniques, save them and put them together for a quilt for yourself - what fun to look back at your early work!
Actually it's not crucial your pieces be straight with the grain. In clothing construction pieces are cut with the grain or on the bias so they hang right and don't twist. A quilt doesn't have to hang. Plus the quilting will keep a quilt stable.
The main thing you want to watch is to make sure the edges of your pieces don't stretch when you sew them together.
Straight grain is the length. Cross grain is across the width of the fabric and bias grain is the diagonal.
If you look at really old scrap quilts that were cut with templates and scissors the grain tends to be all wonky since they just cut it however it would fit.


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nautical map chart Formosa Strait Taiwan China Sea neat
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This is a neat old nautical chart or map. This is Asia, South China Sea, Formosa Strait and Taiwan with adjacent coast of China. This is really cool it has Taiwan- Formaosa, Batan Islands, Luzon Strait. This is No. 3176, and it is 34 3/4 inches by 46 inches. I forgot to look at the date on this one but generally these are between 1943 and 1949. This chart may have discoloring, general wear, creasing, folds, purple dots to denote particular places, scuffs and stains on back, edge wear, some folds, and little corner crease. However, the biggest issue is that this has a musty smell which could probably be pulled out somehow. This will be shipped in some sort of a tube to keep shipping reasonable. This was done by the Hydrographic Office of the US Secretary of Navy. However, it would be a fascinating chart for someone. Thanks for looking.


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The lights are on
Animator Chris Koelsch has posted an impressive animation online of the history of Nintendo's controllers.
Maybe it's kind of silly that Nintendo drastically redesigns its controllers for each new console, but can you imagine how boring a PlayStation animation of a similar nature would be? This is actually an update to one of Koelsch's previous animations. Now that the Wii U is out, he's got to throw that one in there after all.
[via Reddit]
Email the author Kyle Hilliard, or follow on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Game Informer.


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WOBURN — The Middlesex district attorney's office and AT&T are working together on a program aimed at educating drivers, especially teenagers, on the danger of texting while driving.
The "It Can Wait'' campaign includes a documentary produced by AT&T featuring stories from people whose lives have been altered by texting while driving.
AT&T has been working with community leaders around the country on similar educational programs. The first program will be presented today for students at Woburn High School.
Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone Jr. and David Mancuso, AT&T regional vice president, are scheduled to speak at the event. Students will be asked to sign a pledge stating that they will not text and drive.
AT&T began the It Can Wait campaign in March 2010. So far, more than 21,600 people have taken the pledge.


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Here's Why Training Will Get You a Job in the Cloud
- December 28, 2012
- Cloud Computing
- 70
Standing in the way of the cloud's expected growth isn't technology, but a growing shortage of tech professionals with the right skills, hiring managers say. Currently, companies are struggling to fill an estimated 1.7 million open cloud jobs—more than 24 percent of the 7 million positions expected to be available by 2015. In a study conducted for Microsoft, researcher IDC said the number of workers needed to fill those positions will grow by 26 percent each year during that period.
Cushing Anderson, an IDC vice president, calls this skills gap a "harsh reality" that companies face. The solution, he says, lies in getting more tech professionals the training and certifications they need to handle cloud-related jobs. Because cloud technologies require new skills, he sees this as a more challenging staffing problem than tech managers usually face. "There is no one-size-fits-all set of criteria for jobs in cloud computing," he observes. Thus, training and certification are "essential" for preparing candidates to work in cloud-related positions.
In particular, during 2013 companies will seek developers and engineers who can create software for the cloud, as well as infrastructure experts who can oversee data migration, vendor performance and other first-generation projects, says David Foote, CEO of researcher Foote Partners in Vero Beach, Fla. Companies also want next-generation enterprise architects who understand how the cloud fits into their existing structure, along with cloud administrators and resource planners who can estimate enterprise-level needs for computing capacity. Security specialists will continue to be in demand, but they'll need the ability to identify and mitigate cloud-specific risks.
Foote believes that cloud hiring slowed in 2012 for another reason: Some companies had to address architectural, cultural and organizational issues that got in the way of data sharing, analysis and effective migration. With many of those resolved, he expects hiring for cloud-related positions to ramp up in 2013.
The Short-Term Approach
On a Microsoft blog, Adina Mangubat, CEO of Seattle-based Spiral Genetics, said her solution has been to hire employees who seem like a good cultural fit, then train them to handle cloud-related jobs. Anderson thinks this is a good approach. "As opposed to leaving a position open for a year and waiting for a perfect set of skills, hire someone with potential and train them," he says.
If more managers took that approach it would be good news for tech professionals, many of whom contend that employers should hire based on a candidate's overall experience, then pick up the tab for specialized training.
But relying on that approach gives an advantage to those willing to spend their own money on training. Even people deemed to be "good fits" will require more time and investment to get up to speed. Employers simply prefer to hire people who can hit the ground running.
Any suggestions as to how to best get the right training. I don't want to spend time and money getting a skill that isn't high in demand just because it has the word CLOUD in the title.
There's also the possibility that, even if you do enroll in a program for a "hot" skill, by the time you complete the program, that "hot" skill has been replaced by another "hot" skill.
I'm thinking of switching my MBA concentration from marketing management to MIS. I enjoyed the project management concepts that were touched on in my most recent class, and they would be expanded in the MIS concentration classes. I don't know if this will qualify me for "cloud" work (on the business side as opposed to the programming side), but frankly, I don't know what else would. The technology changes too quickly for universities to adjust. The program I am in is focusing on churning out adaptable business leaders who can think, plan and lead companies into the future. It doesn't focus on specific hard skills, because they change too quickly.
And that is the problem. I have spent time and money on training over the years only to never use it again. It is very frustrating.
Now that I'm a business student, I'm convinced that what we really need are more people who understand how to run businesses. We need more competent leaders. A competent leader would understand what we're talking about here, that technology changes too quickly for universities or "career schools" to keep up. The focus of a university should be on producing critical thinkers who have the ability to pick up on new technologies quickly. There is a place for hard skills, but the concentration should be on those that will *never* go out of fashion, like math. Calculus hasn't changed since Newton invented it.
Continuing education is the responsibility of an employer.
Well you're all right from a certian stand point but if you try and implement even one of these ideas youre looked at by potential employers as being ungrateful or a bad seed.
Pardon me for being skeptical, but Microsoft has never been afraid of letting the truth to get in the way of a good story. Microsoft has been selling the "skills shortage" myth for quite sometime now.
Bill Gates has an interest in importing cheap third world labor into the United States in order to reduce labor costs, and has found that the politically correct way to do that is to claim a skills shortage myth. He began his effort by hiring two of his father's shady business associates to lobby Congress to support an increased number of H-1B visas. The "business associates" of Gates Sr. are two guys named Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist. After Abramoff was sent to prison for bribing Congressmen, Gates began a different strategy. Bill Gates became a philanthropist.
Bill Gates reassigned his job title of CEO to Steve Ballmer (Gates kept the title of Chairman of the Board at Microsoft). And Bill Gates became a philanthropist. Bill Gates began to spread his vast wealth to further the philanthropic activities to the benefit of, you guessed it, Bill Gates. One of his philanthropic exercises is to pass out money to so-called "think tanks" to concoct studies that reach predetermined conclusions that benefit the financial interests of Bill Gates.
For instance, Bill Gates has provided millions of dollars of funding to the Brookings Institute, who in return concoct studies by a researcher with absolutely no technical training that reach predetermined conclusions that benefit Bill Gates financial interests. Then the Brookings Institute publishes the results of their concocted study on Brookings Institute letterhead.
Then Bill Gates and Microsoft can continue their practice of laying off US workers and backfilling those positions with cheap, entry level, third world workers.
Interesting rant. It's just believeable.
Oh, all we need is training, huh? Well great, what training? Where do we get the training? How much does it cost?
This is just more skills shortage propaganda. Often the very corporate executives that claim there is a skills shortage are the same corporate executives that construct certification and training barriers that have nothing to do with technical ability. IT IS COST! Microsoft's training is just another Bill Gates scam to liberate more young people from their money.
Take for instance the Microsoft technology C#/.NET. The beginner course at a local private training facility is $7000! That is just step one of a multistep process. Look at Spring technology owned by VMware. The barrier to certification is the cost of REQUIRED training, which amounts to $2790 for a four day class which coaches you on how to pass their test. Unless you pay VMware $2790 to attend one of their training classes, you will not be certified. Certification is not offered to students who learn Spring on their own or by other means.
The barrier in most of these lessons is the price of the training, not the technical challenges of the technology. These training/certification scams are just OUTRAGEOUSLY PRICED scams the "educate" gullible students in some transient technology that will only gain them temporary employment at best.
I am confused as to what specific training these companies are talking about, especially in light of the fact that there is a problem in this country with scam "career schools" that are little more than diploma mills. They promise students 'training for a career in [insert high-pay field here]," but when the students graduate, they find that no employer recognizes the value of the diploma.
I had this happen to me in the 90's, when I got a "paralegal certificate" from a now-defunct "career school." Several potential employers told me, very bluntly, that the diploma wasn't worth the paper it was printed on. I wish I had talked to them before wasting all that time and money.
So these would be my questions:
* Which specific skills are these employers looking for? "Cloud skills" is a very broad category; it's like saying "marketing skills."
* Further to the above, which specific training programs/schools/diplomas do these employers recognize as valid?
Further, since I'm in an MBA program, I am curious as to opportunities exist on the business side of cloud computing, so I would add this:
* Would an MBA with a concentration in MIS be considered sufficient "training" for a cloud-oriented job on the business side? Also note that, in my case, I have an undergrad degree in Math/CIS.
* If yes, which specific jobs would the degree qualify me for?
* If no, are there any entry-level cloud-oriented jobs–jobs that would put me on a career path–that the degree would qualify me for?
I'm looking for business-oriented jobs because that seems to be where my strengths lie. My undergrad GPA was only 3.1. My GPA in my MBA classes is at 3.96, at the halfway point through the program. This includes several math classes where my fellow business students struggled mightily; my latest professor–in my probability class–actually told me that if everyone had my math skills, he wouldn't have as many problems.
While I'm never going to be the World's Greatest Programmer Evah, it seems to me that strong analytical, math *and* writing skills should have some value to an employer.
Mark, the following are my questions:
1. What is the course work?
2. What is the cost?
3. Where is the course offered?
4. How much time do we need to commit?
5. Where do we go if we do NOT get a job?
Here are some cloud certification options.
Hi Twins Fan. I got my first certification in 2000 – NT 4.0 MCSE Track and paid a good amount for the training. I have a close friend from college who thought if we got this certification along with our college BA degrees we could start in the middle instead of the bottom during the post Y2K era. My History/Secondary Education did not pay like I hoped it might and I did not have the stomach to teach. I had only made $8.25/hour prior to completing the training and certification. My first job was $21/hour and then I landed a corp helpdesk job where the reason I was hired was said certification plus degree at a decent salary. I wont say how much they paid me cause you will laugh, but for me it was the key to paying off college debt and starting a career.
I got severanced after 4 1/2 years after I started that job and had done well. It was the management above us that caused the sell off. They offered me some money to stay and shut down the operation and I did some other things outside of the business. One off contract work and fixing peoples PC's. I was not doing that much so it seemed like I needed to get my certs up to date. I then completed the upgrade exams to MCSA Server 2003 then upgraded to MCITP Server 2008, then Virtualization and then this last July MCSE Private Cloud totaling 14 passed exams.
I found the exams were asking questions about "product features" and how to apply those to business problems. Once I found that with one exams it became obvious what I should look for. I used Microsoft E Learning videos and practice tests, Microsoft Virtual Academy which was free and Pluralsight training for things like AFDS, Azure and Biztalk. Some of it cost a few hundred dollars and some was free. You just have to take the time to prepare. That in itself is the hardest thing to do when you have a 40+ hour job.
I think learning the product features and understanding how Information Technology is quite generic. It does not matter if your company sells bottles of oil, candy bars or processes financial data, its all the same thing. The challenges of making the data always available and up to date along with disaster recovery have been with us for some time. The "cloud" offers solutions to those historical problems. If I would offer any advice to passing the exams it would be to understand that.
I wish you luck
Take care
CNBC agrees with everything I said regarding a lot of employers having absolutely no idea how to be effective leaders, as well as having no grasp of the fundamental economic concept of supply & demand:
Sorry, the idea of the cloud technology is to greatly reduce expenses by sharing common IT infrastructure, not to provide long-term great jobs to the IT folks. It's like "off-shoring" the infrastructure in the first place, without ever hiring an entire department!
Maybe I've been told too many times I was an "expensive" resource 🙂
posting to read additional comments
I am glad someone is putting forth the idea that it's time to start thinking about training people instead of expecting the perfect candidate to fall from the sky. In the last 5 years, employers have gotten the idea that employees should already have the training necessary to do the job and that employers don't have to invest anything. The problem with that is many fold. One is, if I already have a job, doing what a prospective employer is looking for, why should I leave? You don't offer training, growth or something different. All you want is the perfect tool. People aren't like tools that can be bought at the local Ace Hardware. The next thing you know, they'll want their money back if the new employee doesn't fullfil their expectations. I realize that arrogance of supply is driving a lot of this, but when is common sense coming back? Mark, thanks for that article.
Responding to some of the posts which negatively views cloud computing as not a great source of jobs for IT, I would I have to disagree with their perspective because I happen to be training in cloud computing and the technology is the next wave of IT and this article is right on the money in that employers are facing more shortages of cloud computing in the future and those who have a negative view of this awesome technology most likely have had nonpositive experiences with employers in regard to them perhaps due to lack of technological know-how.
I am getting really tired of the "if you only had training, you would have a job" stories.
This really is all about corporations increasing profits by depressing wages rather than making better products. I am a very competent, experienced project manager with recent experience implementing cloud, on premises and blended applications. I have converted enterprise systems from dedicated hardware to virtualized servers and storage. I also have extensive experience, both as project manager and hands-on with business intelligence solutions.
After my position was eliminated only to be replaced by an h1b contractor, I have been interviewed for a number of positions. In each case I got through multiple phone interviews to be rejected when they saw that I was older at a face to face interview.
So if any of the recruiters for those 1.7 million openings are reading this, contact me. I have the skills and experience and can start tomorrow.
May be Boards should be looking to replace and fill C level jobs with H1Bs.
I agree. That would be the right place to outsource.
Steve have you completed any certifications for the clould? Having experince is good but employeers need to know you have what it takes to pass the exams. Also if you do not have a college degree it will hurt you. Just my 2 cents. Good luck in your search. Ciao!
Steve, I disagree with your post. I live in one of the hot tech spots (Austin, TX), with massive connection to the University of Texas and its share of recruiters, and let me tell you what: the article is spot on. The biggest growth here are in Cloud Computing, Mobile Computing, and User Interfaces.
In most of the comments you are posting, you are taking it out on the H1Bs. You are partially right, but for every job an H1B has taken, many of us have succeeded in keeping our jobs here just fine, so face it: there IS an issue with the quality of the workforce. Over the summer, I did some work with the biggest financial retirement company, and guess what? There were a lot of techs who did not know what they were doing, but spoke the loudest in the smoke area about H1Bs and the likes.
I do agree with you about the age situation though, but that is hardly related to the topic of the article, and to H1Bs in general.
My comments are directly related. If there is such a shortage of cloud resources, why aren't companies willing to pay those of us with current demonstrated expertise?
In a market economy these employers with such a pressing shortage should be willing to pay for these rare skills including being willing to pay to develop resources they have.
In my case and many others that I witnessed first hand, a regular employment position paying around $100k is replaced by a contract h1b making $25-$35/hr.
I am in Silicon Valley and have experience with cloud, virtualization, community platforms and secure mobile access, but I make more than the contractors hired through Infosys and its competitors.
The sad part is that if management knew how to calculate ROI, they would notice that we experienced PM's get projects done quicker, better and on budget which means that the companies actually save money with senior people.
I know exactly how you feel. I was laid off in June 2009 while the company was building their 'Private Cloud'.
I spent 13 months interviewing for jobs that I was qualified for (or over-qualified) and came to the conclusion that my age and the idea that I would be 'expensive' was the reason for not being hired. One of the problems I ran into is that all jobs require some level/type of certification in order to even get through the HR shredder. The fact that I had 15 years of experience didn't matter. (I even had to talk to an HR person and tell them that the reason they claimed I wan't qualified was the exact type of experience I had!). I was initially denied an interview for a position that had be re-advertised and had interviewed for (a new state governor closed the job before they could hire…)
In response to the certification requirements I paid for training out of my pocket while unemployed and that did nothing.
I was fortunate to get a job providing user support with a 25% salary reduction. I'm still looking for the right opportunity but if you don't want to relocate, or can't, and your skills aren't "in the Cloud" there isn't much out there.
Nothing wrong with being certified but if all you ever do is take the class and pass the course then I don't see any value in the cert. But if you don't have the cert no one will hire you so you have a chance to get the experience. Catch-22.
Steve, YES to "depressing wages rather than making better products." I work for a large corporation that just went through another re-org which involved many layoffs and most people being shuffled to entirely new departments. In my company's case, not only are we creating poor products, but also we are not supporting our digital products at all, once they're for sale. And that means unhappy–and soon-to-be unhappier–customers. In my opinion, if the customer isn't happy, what is the point of anything the company tries to sell?
Mark, somewhat related to your request below, what about asking managers about lack of training for company-specific products and procedures? As in, if a company lays off or moves around everyone that knew company/product-specific skills and info, what are the managers going to do to fill these new gaps? And if they are not going to fill these gaps, what will they do when customers stop buying or return products?
I tend to agree with the slant of the comments you are receiving. The same sort of thing was being said when VoIP came into play, or going back even further, when internetworking was taking hold. The "problem" is not training, the problem is with hiring managers and HR departments who are trying to fill job requisitions from managers who specify that positions be filled with candidates who have previous experience (another way of saying "track record"). Training does not necessarily equate to experience and Hiring Managers, HR, and people in general are poor judges of potential – at least that is my take and experience… Otherwise there would not be an over-reliance on automation tools and keyword analysis in the hiring process – most HR departments are trying to fill round holes with round pegs, especially in regards to a minimum amount of experience.
Adina Mangubat, CEO of Seattle-based Spiral Genetics has the right idea, but she is an obvious exception since they are a startup and relatively small (6 employees as of August 2012). Her focus on a cultural fit, and the fact that she is a CEO focused on the hiring process, was a dead giveaway that they are an exception – most companies are looking for skills/experience first.
I can't say that your advice to pay for and get your own training is a bad idea – but I would say be smart about it when it is your own money – because it probably is not the golden ticket to a new job. Personally I'd steer away from vendor certifications and pursue a general area of study from a platform like Pluralsight.com ($29/mo.) – let your potential employer pick up the tab on the expensive vendor certification since their environments dictate which certifications matter.
In the meantime, I suspect that things will proceed as they always have… recruiters will try to first locate those people who already have experience by raiding the competitors. And HR departments will continue to be the CV shredders they have always been.
Just saw a report on the Today show about a trend in hiring over 40 interns. Please add to the question list a topic about this. I have found that although I want to move down a different path it isn't easy at my level/salary. Human nature understands why you leave a job for more money but not for less. I wish I could find a company willing to take me on as an intern with the thought that if I do a good job they would offer a long term job. It would also make it much easier for me to see what training would be needed for me to succeed. Some of us are willing to take one step back in order to take two steps forward.
And if hiring managers wants a person who could hit the ground running just think about getting someone with years of IT experience at a reduced rate who wants to prove themselves.
Interesting you brought up internships. Since I am an older worker–a Gen X'er–the proliferation of using unpaid interns as opposed to low-paid entry-level workers is possibly the biggest reason why I've given up on ever being able to use my Math/CIS degree.
I would have no problem at all with an "internship" per se, but:
1) I cannot afford to work for free. I just can't. If I am making no money, then there is no money for work clothes or gas in my car/train fare…let alone food so that I don't have to sit there watching everyone else eat while I try to fill up on water. I need to be paid *something,* even if it is minimum wage.
2) If an internship pays between minimum wage and $12.00/hour, then it's not reasonable to expect me to commute 20, 30, 40 miles or more one-way to get to it, or to move for it. With gas prices hovering darn near $5.00/gallon, if I'm going to take a job that pays that low, I'm looking at about a 15-mile radius in which I can commute. Otherwise, every cent I "earn" will be poured into gasoline and wear and tear on my car, or on train fare. Further, people don't pick up and move so they can take a temp job paying $12.00/hour or less, at least not if they have any financial sense.
I took a [non-tech] temp job last year that paid only $10.00/hour. It was located about 8 miles from my home, and parking was free. That gig made financial sense; I wasn't making an amount >= what I was spending on gas and parking/train fare.
If I could find a tech job or "internship" located reasonably close to my home, with free parking, I could go work there for $10.00/hour as well. I could even go as low as minimum wage. But I cannot go down to $0.00/hour.
I don't understand why I should have to go down to $0.00/hour. The $10.00/hour temp job was a clerical gig that required little more than the ability to type, follow directions and use a computer. That was it. You didn't even have to type fast; 25 wpm was sufficient. It is beyond me why they would be willing to pay $10.00/hour for bottom-level clerical work, but tech employers don't want to pay anything, literally, for labor that is far more skilled, even on an entry level. (On another thread, there was a debate WRT whether AJAX should be considered a high-level skill. I guarantee that none of my co-workers at that temp job would even know what AJAX *is.* They'd think you were talking about cleanser. But their labor was valued at $10.00/hour.)
They do it because they can. There's always some greater fool, at least in this economy, that will work for free or substandard wage. This is because of the surplus of workers. Call it the arrogance of supply. Whatever the case, if no one applied for these positions, they'd have rethink it.
MyMotor: someone on LinkedIn once told me that in order to work unpaid internships, I should "just go on welfare." I'm not making this up.
That was possibly the single most offensive piece of "advice" I've ever been given. I have never collected a dime of welfare in my life, and I'm not about to start now.
What angers me is that if the practice of unpaid "interns" collecting welfare is widespread–and I suspect that it is; how else could they be supporting themselves?–this means that instead of the employers paying for these temp workers, everyone who actually works for a living is paying for it.
As an anarchist, I think that if you want to work for FREE, you should be allowed to do so. But I also think that it should be up to YOU to figure out how to support this lifestyle choice. Get money from your family, get yourself a sugar daddy or momma, sell fruit on freeway offramps, beg on the streets, I don't care…but you should absolutely NOT be permitted to force taxpayers to support you and YOUR lifestyle choice.
And on the employer side, it should not be up to ME to pay YOUR employees. That is YOUR problem.
I am a classical liberal, may be minarchist. That said, they do it because they can and because they get positive feedback meaning some idiot does it. Going on welfare to do an internship is nuts, IMO, but politically, it seems to be the direction that this country is going. All I can say is that the best medicine is a vibrant economy. We aren't there yet and I have my doubts for the future. between collectivists/progressives and corporatists, we are changing our society to one of control and measured outcomes that favor the lowest common denominator. At 50 yo, I don't think I will be part of this as I have may be 15 years of work left at most. May be the best bet is to screw training and trying to please a master and go it alone. I can tell you that after getting a MS in IS, the only person it made a difference to was me. It hasn't done anything for my career and if anything, probably held me back, which goes to your observations. Our society has become one that is not only a service economy, but one where employers now just want widgets that are replaceable and do one thing. I bet in 10 years, may be a little more, that when China becomes free, no one will want to come here anymore, but go there. We've gotten the results we deserve.
I'm probably just going to stay with the marketing management concentration instead of switching to MIS. The MIS classes would be more difficult, and I don't think they'll make me any more marketable to an employer. At least with plain, old-fashioned marketing, I might be able to launch an entrepreneurial opportunity. I can't do anything entrepreneurial with MIS.
My experience of the job market says you are more likely to find a job that pays well in Marketing than in IT. Exec's see Marketing and Sales as bringing in business and IT as overhead. They are more willing to pay for Marketing people.
I interact with Unskilled labor every day. We outsourced our IT department to a major Indian vendor that only employee's unskilled entry level people that have demonstrated they cannot follow any written instructions…over and over again. Their unbelievable lack of even the most rudimentary troubleshooting skills is mind boggling after two years of this. Our constant 6 hour troubleshooting calls to fix the simplest of issues is at best a poor excuse for a comedy skit. I realize it's past time to vacate my position, as being around here when the house of cards they built collapses would be untenable. .
just posting to follow comments.
These days to many people are out of work and this is tough for individuals looking for work especially students trying to acquiring their degrees from Colleges or Technology Schools.
It seems the only thing the powers to be want to build are prisons and not fill vacant positions then more talent is actually applying for positions out of the United States. If we want our, Infrastructure
and Technology sector better than what it actually is we need to start hiring some or all of the students currently attending school before they are offered positions outside of the United States.
Tech professionals in the U.S. are better off leveraging cloud technologies to create their own businesses than worrying about certs and trying to hit moving targets. Big software and tech companies have let employees know exactly what kind of treatment they can expect to receive over the last 15 years of outsourcing and the game of musical chairs. For those in a job, I would recommend beefing up on the LAMP stack knowledgebase while in your current job and focus your energy on starting a new business or joining a startup. For those who need work, just take any job that pays the bills and do the same.
On a Microsoft blog, … – don't care.
I Like all the comments said if you think about it, China just developed new trains along with new tracks and these trains can actually travel to the speed of 220 miles per hour. Travel times are considerably cut in half we fight amongst each other instead of bringing about New and Improved Technology. If we continue to be so far behind in, Technological Advancements our society will watch other countries advance their infrastructures while we are left far behind. I think to many of us avert from new ideas without seeing the full potential of them jobs are created by innovative individuals who actually just had a dream. This is what formed our, Great Democracy of United States of America we have forgotten about those principles and accomplishments.
Innovation takes risk and that has been the key to america's success. We were a country of risk takers. Now we want guarantees and safety, so we have become risk averse.
The United States of America is a republic, not a democracy. This is not a trivial detail.
Vendor certifications are a complete farce in terms of determining a person's technical knowledge and skill.
I work for a large IP network equipment vendor and the company's vendor certification program amounts to ony marginally more than knowing the port densities and peformance specifications of the products – essentially the specs needed to sell the product. Passing the certification has little to do with how to develop and configure or troubleshoot an IP network.
Similarly, there is a very large 900 lb gorilla in the network hardware industry who has a very complex vendor certification program that has been the industry de-facto standard for certifications for years. Many of those certifications are similarly weak in substance but expensive to gain. Every day I get calls from people holding vendor certificates from that vendor's programs (and many others, too) asking me to help them troubleshoot a network issue. These troubleshoots all follow a simple and logical path of ellimination to get to the root of the cause. To do this one must know the protocols that make an IP network function. But most of these "vendor certified" people haven't the foggiest idea how to do this. They have no real problem solving skills and only a few have any idea how the protocols work. To be truthful I get annoyed when a "certified network engineer" asks me about a protocol issue that I expect an "network engineer" to know before the certification is issued. The funny thing is, I have no such certifications but I am the answer guy they call!
As I see it vendor certification is just another lever designed to pry more dollars out of someone's pocket. And those hiring managers and HR departments that demand vendor certifications are the real fools in this fiasco.
So the bottom line in my comment is hiring managers and HR managers need to pay attention and work within the industry to jointly develop standards based training and certification programs that provide focus on how the industry standard protocols function and how they work in multi-vendor environments. The "Cloud" is a multi-vendor environment and it is going to remain that way forever. The technician or engineer of today and tomorrow has to know the standards first for any vendor specific training to be truely meaningful.
attended two different training schools that have now out of business. One filed for bankruptcy a day before graduation. Years later salli mae still after borrowed money. Also no lots of tech with certifications that don't know jack. Some can't even open up a computer or fix a laptop and these support guys that read off scripts.
attended two different training schools that have now out of business. One filed for bankruptcy a day before graduation. Years later salli mae still after borrowed money. Also no lots of tech with certifications that don't know jack. Some can't even open up a computer or fix a laptop and these support guys that read off scripts.
I was lucky. I got ripped off by a "career school" in the early 90's. The grand total stolen was $1,800.00. These days, "career schools" are ripping off students for 10 times that much money or more…for the same worthless diploma I was sold (a "paralegal certificate"). I don't even want to know how much they want for an "IT" diploma or "certification."
Because I owed so little, I was eventually able to get out from under that debt. I wish I could say the same thing about my student loans for my Math/CIS degree. Because I cannot use it, I will never be able to repay that money. Ever. If I could have gotten a job, I would have been able to repay it. I cannot repay it off of zero income, or off of the low-wage gigs I'm "qualified" to do.
I've heard people complain about making "only" $40,000.00/year. I've never earned that much, and I never will. I'd give anything to earn that kind of money.
Lame article – could it more vague? Where are the specifics? What jobs are going unfilled? What training is needed? L-A-M-E!
great posts in this discussion. I'm also an MBA student/ former web application developer. And the issue of training for the next hot word technology is a challenge. Companies need to realize that someone having fundamental knowledge of a variety of systems is more beneficial in the long run than just being an expert in a specific tech.
Interesting comments everyone, thanks for sharing your experiences. I've been out of work for awhile now and I'm one of those older guys so I know I'm fighting an uphill battle. Just a quick comment regarding certifications:
A couple years ago I paid over $300 to take 3 courses that promised would "prepare" me to get a certification. I did very well in these courses, acing all the practice exams. All thru these courses the instructor insisted the key was general knowledge as opposed to specific details mostly because when it comes to technology there are just too many details. This made sense, so I was encouraged. Time came for the actual certification test and I learn it's a 2 part exam and each part cost almost $300. Furthermore, I look at some sample questions and learn most (not all, but most) are very specific. I became less encouraged. I talked to a few certified and employed contacts and learned they were constantly taking tests to remain current in their certifications just to remain employed. I became very discouraged. I used to think certs meant something, and I'd hope in some situations they do, but I'm not so sure they would be anything more than an expense for me.
That said, I too am wondering what specific Cloud-related certifications employers will be looking for in 2013? Never mind that I'm not convinced at all that Cloud hiring will increase in 2013!!
I read this blog post several times and came to the realization that no one knows what they want in terms of IT skills for their organization. IT professionals should periodically update their skills to be current in their jobs and bring value to their companies. Cloud computing is still a relatively new technology so everyone is scratching their heads determining what skills in the realm of cloud infrastructure is needed. Perhaps companies can learn the different types of public cloud infrastructure (SaaS, IaaS, etc.) and then look at the needs of the company. Companies have to create a compelling business case as to why moving operartions to the cloud saves money and brings value to daily operations. While we do need people who can effectively run companies, we also need people in HR departments that have skills in both technology and human resource developement. This would cut down on the vague job descriptions for technical jobs and would finally make a dent in the hiring of individuals compentent in emerging technologies. To understand cloud computing, a person needs skills in networking and security plus basic programming. Once the basics have been mastered you can now discuss training people for cloud positions. There is so much emerging technology coming out daily that you have to prioritize which training would provide value for a company. If you are a member of either IEEE or ACM, Skillsoft is a memeber benefit for these organizations. The key is to pick one or two emerging technologies within cloud computing that would be a career focus. Then practice either creating a cloud system or developing a business case for using Salesforce.com as a practical example. I read the interchnages in the comment section and agree it is the responsibility of the employer to provide adequate opportunities for continuing education. Employees also have to supplement that education with training opportunities outside of the job. It is a confusing IT/technology job market and circular discussions will not help us get the people we need to do these jobs.
Mark, I would ask management the following:
If you damage the economy by maintaining high unemployment and ecomic insecurity for workers who is going to buy your products?
If you get much or all entry level work in IT done by offshore contractors where are you going to get experienced people when the current ones leave the work force?
If you create a marketplace where the only jobs that pay well are in law and questionable financial deals why would you expect students to invest time and money in STEM degrees?
My guess is that one, there first priority isn't employing people and two, they don't see Americans as the only market for their goods and not even the primary one anymore.
The main article says that progress is being hampered by a shortage of 1.7 million cloud techies, so I would submit that the companies do have a priority of hiring skilled workers.
The US is still approximately 25% of the world economy with 4% of the world's population. I suspect that most companies with operations in the US care about that chunk of the world market.
Their first priority is to their stockholders, which means profit. If they really wanted to hire people and train them in the skills, so they have the workers they need, they would, but the bottom line matters more. SO, to reiterate, their first priority isn't employing people. It's to make money. Hopefully, somewhere in the process, they will, BUT, they won't if they can get more productivity out of what they have and search for talent outside out borders. It's a new world now and one that isn't confined to geography. We are competing with everyone.
And if that were true they would have found a way already.
Mymoto is right. We learned this in my MBA classes: the primary goal of a financial manager is to increase the wealth of the stockholders. That's it.
Due to our growing permanent underclass of "unemployables" and underemployed mall/restaurant workers, the U.S. is on its way to becoming straight-out 3rd World. We have seen our best days come and go. The true growth opportunity is in developing countries like India, which are on an upswing. Wealth is increasing there. Here, it is plummeting.
None of this matters to the shareholders of a company, because that is simply not their concern. If a company can earn money overseas, it does not matter if the bottom drops out of its U.S. market.
To get jobs back we do what we used to do and protect our workers by changing tax laws to penalize companies shipping jobs overseas rather than giving them tax cuts. Then we stop bowing to IT companies demands to increase those 6 year visas that let them import … talent at a cheaper rate. So students are encouraged to get a degree in Computers. A degree helps, but you won't get hired without somehow showing work experience. Stupid I know, how do you get that experience.
And any tax increases and taxes themselves aren't funded by the company, but by the customers.
I think we are past the point of using tax policy to accomplish a turn around. It is probably going to take punitive tariffs, changes is government hiring practices, and a single payer health care system to balance the equation.
The first thing you have to do is define the problem correctly. In this case, our current labor arbitrage is not the root of the problem, but a symptom of a much bigger problem; wage suppression. The labor arbitrage is simply an attempt to fill a need caused by technological changes, hiring practices, and business models that occurred as a result of technological changes; the Internet Resume Mills.
The Resume Mills have shifted power/costs to one side of the equation; the employer side. The Resume Mills have taken away the power of the individual to negotiate a fair wage and shifted the burden of the learning curve exclusively on the workers. Over time collective bargaining will rise up to correct the problem, in the mean time carnage.
The first step is to recognize the shift as individuals and the need for market solutions that balances the equation. The government can help by setting the over all environment. The first thing the government should do is change its own hiring practices. IT wages in the public sector are being held below private sector wages. Government wages for stem work should be pushed substantially hirer then the private sector wage suppression. The sucking sound will be talent leaving the private sector intensifying the shortages that the private sector has created for its self. This should force them to address the problem they have created.
Sherman anti trust actions are also necessary to break up the too big to fail caused by the Fed's sustained low interest rate environment. There is too much labor negotiating power in the hands of too few. The individual doesn't stand a chance of even recuperating their learning costs.
The alternative is that the labor market will eventually move to a world wide labor union. The foreign workers have just as much of a stake in recovering learning costs as American workers. Over time the equation will balance its self out. It always does. In the mean time pain. The problem is much bigger then just the arbitrage. The arbitrage is not the cause. It is a symptom of a much bigger labor market problem.
I agree with you 100% on the macroeconomics of asking these sort of questions. One thing to keep in mind; most domestic companies are complaining of the language barrier in the outsourcing support. What is happening is that most of these outsourced companies are filtering jobs back into the U.S. as contracted positions. We all know that an undergrad in CS or IT without exp can pretty much expect not to even get an entry level position. I have 10 years building PC's for gamers, etc…but when I go to apply for a job in an entry level desktop support role, they want 1-2 years on-the-job training. I hold a AAS with certs A+, sec, and 12 years experience as an Account manager, but I am being told by several companies that I don't have the necessary exp to get a $12 per hour job. Ridiculous!
Yup, same here. I have a master's in IS, 18 years experience with apple and novell certs, but I can't even get a $15/hr job. The contract job I had a few months ago was for 18/hr, but lasted only 7 weeks. It was a glorified help desk job and the hardest part was learning the internal systems they used for metrics and documentation. Since then, nothing and it took me two and half months to get that.
I also want to comment on the foreign outsourcing. My wife works as a PM for a major bank that outsources big time. It's not only a language issue, but quality as well. The quality is not there and the people on this side of the pond have to make it right.
Here is my question;
If a pedigree is making $65 an hour now, it takes a thousand hours to learn a new technology, the technology will be obsolete in three years, and the pay is the same, then why should they spend $65,000 plus expenses if they cannot recover the costs in the three year useful life span?
Why do these articles always refer to "hiring managers" and "companies" without ever naming specific organizations? It is articles like this that frustrate and irritate I/T people with these ridiculous requirements that training is a must, yet companies rarely, if ever, pay for or make arrangement for their people to be trained.
The interviewers are failing in their job by not naming the individuals and stating the job titles of those who state that these skills are a must. The interviewers are failing by not naming these companies, plus they are failing by not digging deeper and asking, "Why?"
"Why are you demanding that people have these skills rather than hiring someone with a varied background and having that person trained?"
"Why do you feel the need to require people have 10 years C++, C#, MS-SQL, PL-SQL, Oracle, SQL-Server 2010, Citrix Server, Project Management experience, Cloud experience and Data Architecture experience when the possibility of such an individual exiting is almost nil?"
"Why do organizations complain that there aren't enough I/T grads available for positions when there are thousands of people complaining they cannot find a job due to the previously mentioned outlandish experience requirements?"


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Home Tags Posts tagged with "Georgia Southern"
Tag: Georgia Southern
Georgia Southern Had a Fried Gator Dinner to Celebrate Beating Florida
That's cold..... So, so cold... Gator taste like chicken by the way. H/T @GaSouthernGuy
Caption The Photo: Florida O-Linemen Block Each Other
This photo completely sums up the mess that Will Muschamp and the Florida Gators have become. Florida suffered a humiliating home loss to Georgia Southern,...
Georgia Southern Beats Florida With ZERO Passing Yards
What year is this? I didn't think this was possible in 2013. GSU beat Florida 26-20. https://twitter.com/BR_CFB/status/404372904667660289


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Types of Caravan
Types Of Caravans
Here is a brief overview of the types of caravan available…
Depending on the size and layout of the interior, caravans usually sleep between two and six people.
Internal dimensions tend to range from 10ft(3m) to 20ft(6m).
A larger caravan will, of course, need a more powerful vehicle to tow it.
Caravan beds (berths) usually fold away – leaving a sitting area, a washroom (with toilet, washbasin and shower) and a kitchen area.
Most caravans have a single axle although larger, heavier models may use double-axles…
Generally speaking, the majority of caravans are only suitable for use on tarmac roads.
For extended off-road towing, you'll need an All Terrain Caravan with strengthened axles, chassis and bodywork.


text: I received a pair of Monitor RX6's for Christmas. I currently have it paired with a Marantz 2250 receiver in my office. It has a really warm sound that I enjoy. My office is kind of small and my advent minis do a good job in there, so I want to move the RX6's into the living room for my television,dvd player etc. Are there modern av receivers that will give me that warm sound for my entertainment system? I'm not really big on features, I just want something basic.


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A Riverwoods man who helped rescue two people from a burning plane late Monday night doesn't want to be called a hero.
"Well, I don't know about that, but we did everything we could. I hope the two survivors do well," Charles Norwesh said Tuesday outside his home, just feet from where a medical plane went down in a wooded area at about 11 p.m.
The noise was intense, neighbors said, and Norwesh and his wife, Kimberly, said they immediately ran outside when the Piper Navajo crashed across the street.
"I saw the co-pilot moving and I realized how close he was to the fire and we had to get him out of the plane," said Norwesh.
A medic freed himself.
"I can't believe he survived an accident like that and walked away. His arm was pretty badly shattered and we helped bandage him up but he got out on his own," said Norwesh.
Killed in the crash were the pilot, William Didier of Cedar Grove, Wis., as well as the patient, John Bialek and his wife, Ilomae Bialek.
"It was the most frightening thing I'd ever experienced. There was blood and bodies and it was hard to see," said Norwesh.
The aircraft was registered to Trans North Aviation Limited in Eagle River, Wis., and was on its way to the Chicago Executive Airport, five miles from where it crashed.
In audio released Tuesday by the Federal Aviation Administration, Didier can be heard telling flight controllers of a fuel problem.
"Do you still want to land at Palwaukee?" a controller asks.
"Unable. We are out of fuel and we are coasting..." responded Didier.
The flight originated in West Palm Beach, Fla., and refueled in Jesup, Ga., according to fire officials.
The plane had just passed a safety inspection and the crash was the first in the company's 33-year history, according to Ron Schaberg, the aviation company's president.
Didier's wife, Connie Didier, said her husband took his first solo flight at 16 and had been a pilot for more than 30 years.
"He's very thorough," she said. "Sometimes, he was obnoxiously thorough."
Nobody on the ground was injured. The National Transportation Safety Board continues to investigate.
|John & Ilomae Bialek


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Imagine my excitement when I walked into my favorite thrift store about 6 months ago and saw this jewelry armoire sitting there in all its glory….with NO PRICE TAG. It really was a magical moment. I couldn't believe no one else had swooped it up.
I told my boys to stay there and guard it with their life, while I ran to find someone to get a price quote. I was expecting at least $40.00……
Seriously, only $12.50??!!! When the lady told me, I worked reeeeeaaaallly hard to keep my face straight to hide my excitement and surprise. I would have paid probably 3 times that! (But they didn't need to know that, LOL). Clearly they didn't see the value in it that I saw, or else they would have marked it higher.
They probably had no idea that I could turn it into something so lovely, like this:
…Or that it could be upcycled into a DIY craft organizer for me to hold crafting supplies in, huh? Lucky for me that some people don't see that!
I had bought it with the intention to sell it in my vintage booth (which is "no longer" since it was too much time and work and not enough profit). But I gave up my vintage booth, and this jewelry box armoire has sat in my garage for 6 months, which is actually pretty good compared to some of my wait-listed furniture. LOL
At first I used this HomeRight paint sprayer to spray on Annie Sloan French Linen, but I am in LOVE with Annie Sloan Provence and really wanted something more bright and cheery. And if the condition of this can doesn't convey how I abuse the heck out of some Provence, then I don't know how else I could explain to you how much I love this color. LOL
(…FYI, yes, you can use Annie Sloan chalk paint in a paint sprayer. See my video tutorial on how to use chalk paint in the HomeRight Finish Max Pro).
The Hardware
I had painted the small knobs white, but now I would need to change them back to gold. I just used Rub 'n Buff Wax Metallic Finish, which is my favorite way to change hardware in a snap. It just rubs on so easily!
I also had to add my own knobs for the sides that pull out. The original knobs were broken off or lost. I love how fancy these knobs look!
The Stencil
This stencil is the same stencil I used on my folding table makeover that I did for my laundry room makeover. It's the French Floral Damask stencil from Royal Design Studio. LOVE this stencil so much. To see my tutorial using this stencil on how to stencil on furniture, watch my how-to-tutorial.
For this project, I removed all the drawers and laid them down straight together, then placed the stencil over them.
It's Okay to
Steal Borrow Ideas!
I can't take credit for this genius idea of using an old jewelry box for crafting supplies. One of my Thrift Diving 30-Day Room Makeover challengers posted in our closed Facebook group about sticking her screws and stuff in her jewelry box since she's not a "give-me-jewelry" type of gal (just like me–I couldn't care less about jewelry!!!).
The light bulb went off since I knew I was hoarding this baby in the garage. I knew there was no way that my spare jewelry collection deserved a piece like this. But–oh yes!!!–my crafting and DIY supplies could! 🙂 Organization, here I come!
So I
stole borrowed her idea and turned this old jewelry box armoire into DIY craft storage in my basement!
Poor me really needs more stuff to fill it up. I could easily hold 12 paint brushes there on the left. 🙂
The little compartments are perfect for storing nails and furniture tacks and stuff. I found myself wandering from place to place, looking for supplies to fill it up with!
It's almost too pretty to have nasty ole' paint brushes hanging in it, but I'll get over that angst as soon as I realize how useful it will be to have this next to me when I'm in the basement working on projects!
Now if only I could get the rest of the basement looking as spiffy as this…..
Solid wood, too! And all that storage space and hooks!!
So what do you think?? 🙂
I know….some naysayers out there may think that I "ruined" all that beautiful wood. But I found it dated. And the truth is that when a piece is sitting in a thrift store, neglected, a little bit of DIY and paint can bring it back to life for so many years to come for the next owner!
Anyhow, have you ever thought about finding and using an old jewelry box for DIY craft storage? Which craft storage ideas are your favorite? Leave a comment below to add to the discussion!


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Cougar women pick up 2 UMAC wins
The University of Minnesota, Morris women's soccer team improved to 3-0 in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference with wins over Bethany Lutheran and Martin Luther.
UM-Morris 5
Bethany Lutheran 1
The Cougars outshot Bethany 34-3 to defeat the Vikings 5-1 Friday in Mankato.
Coach Dan Magner said the offense played a major role in this game.
"We took great care of the ball when we got it. We took possession and kept possession. It wasn't so much our defense, but rather how we handled the ball."
The Vikings managed to get past midfield only a handful of times.
The Cougars notched two goals in the first 10 minutes. Nina Jarnot scored her third goal of the season on an assist from Katie Kestner at the 3:11 mark. Three minutes later, Amber O'Connor blasted a shot from 25 yards out into the upper 90 for her fourth goal of the year.
"Being up two goals in 10 minutes put us in great position strategically. We just had to play smart from that point," Magner said.
Freshman Tayler Fairchild scored the first goal of her career at the 19-minute mark, a beautiful header off a cross from Taylor Meehan.
After a second goal from O'Connor, freshman Molly Olson closed out the scoring with a tally just before halftime, knocking home a pass from Leah Parker.
All 23 Cougars played in the game.
UM-Morris 4
Martin Luther 0
On Saturday, the Cougars defeated Martin Luther College 4-0 in New Ulm for their third win in a row.
Each win in the past week has come by a minimum of four goals and they have outshot their opponents 108-18 over that stretch.
The Cougars battled evenly against an inspired and emotional Knights team who were dedicating their new field.
The external factors of the game impacted play early on, according Magner.
"We just had to settle down and play nice, simple soccer," said Magner.
Nice, simple soccer arrived at the 30-minute mark when O'Connor scored unassisted, managing to sneak underneath the Martin Luther zone for a clear shot.
Still, even with the 1-0 lead, Magner felt his team was pressing and he addressed this at halftime.
"I told them, 'This might be a crazy analogy,'" Magner said, "'but we're like a baseball player at bat. And in front of him, four teammates have hit home runs. So we're feeling pressure to do that too and we're gripping the bat really hard and swinging for the fences.' But right now, we just need a base hit."
Doubtless, Magner's words got through to his team, but they really seemed to inspire Meehan who picked up a hat trick in the second half.
The first goal came 1:30 into the second half when she blasted home a "lovely pass" from O'Connor who found Meehan racing behind the Knights' zone.
Meehan's second goal was assisted by Liz Vold and just 13 seconds later, she notched another tally, unassisted.
"Taylor seems to have habit of scoring in quick succession. That's not the first time she's done that this season," Magner said.
The win marks a dramatic turnaround for the Cougars who went 1-4 through non-conference play. They now stand at .500 with an undefeated record in the UMAC.
Magner credits the better play to focus.
"Everyone is contributing and not just the people in the game. On the sidelines, our spirit is excellent and I'm really pleased with the overall positive vibe... plus, it doesn't hurt to be getting a lot of shots."
The Cougar women host Northwestern College and Crown College this weekend in Morris.


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WASHINGTON, May 30 (UPI) -- Sanctions on Iran were eased so U.S. companies may sell cellphones and other personal-communication technology to Iranians, the Treasury Department said.
"As the Iranian government attempts to silence its people by cutting off their communication with each other and the rest of the world, the United States will continue to take action to help the Iranian people exercise their universal human rights, including the right to freedom of expression," the Treasury Department said Thursday in a release.
The Treasury Department said it consulted with the State Department before issuing a general license that authorizes companies to export to Iran "certain services, software and hardware incident to personal communications" so the Iranian people can to communicate with each other and the outside world.
"This general license aims to empower the Iranian people as their government intensifies its efforts to stifle their access to information," the Treasury Department said.
"The general license would not authorize the export of any equipment to the Iranian government or to any individual or entity on the Specially Designated Nationals [SDN] list," the department said.
Also on Thursday, the Treasury Department said it designated Iranian government groups and officials accused of abusing human rights, including the Committee to Determine Instances of Criminal Content, the government agency charged with "filtering" information to the Iranian people.
The State Department announced Thursday it imposed visa restrictions on nearly 60 Iranian government officials and other individuals accused of human rights abuses related to political repression in Iran.


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Advertising & Branding - July 2013
By Santo Torcivia
Upon examining the most recent figures from Kantar Media on consumer advertising, I am struck by how quickly the investment in brand equity among producer flooring brands has fallen. Each year over the last five years, the total amount spent in support of flooring brands by producers has declined to the point where spending in 2012 was 20% of what it was in 2008. This does not bode well for manufacturers and their efforts to gain a stronger position in the product channels, considering that the same trend is not true for consumer advertising spending by major retailers.
It cannot be said strongly enough that, in the product channels, brand equity—that is, the communication of a brand's image, perception and benefits to the trade and consumers—is as important as product development, product quality and price. In fact, brand equity is why an automobile company like Toyota or Honda can get a higher price (and higher sales volumes) for its products, which are perceived to have higher quality and better values than its competitors. But producers sometimes think it a simple matter to cheat their brand equity and "save" these funds to freshen-up the bottom line. They do not realize that cheating brand equity today undermines margins down the road. This sort of shortsightedness breeds long-term margin struggles and sales declines. There are plenty of examples. Just consider Stainmaster fiber by DuPont, which held a vaunted position in the late 1980s. Stainmaster cheated on its brand equity before making some other crucial marketing errors, was sold by DuPont, and is now is trying to resurrect itself. It is difficult to regain esteem once a brand has slipped from the consumer's mind.
Fortunately, flooring retailers across the U.S. do not suffer the shortsightedness of flooring producers. Empire Today has reportedly spent half a billion dollars over the last five years on consumer advertising, increasing its expenditure each year. Lumber Liquidators spent over $100 million in consumer advertising over the same period, also increasing its expenditure each year. Additionally, Lumber Liquidators has spent over $7 million in consumer advertising since 2008 in support of its Bellawood wood flooring brand. Overall, retailers have expended $849 million in consumer advertising over the last five years versus $297 million by flooring and carpet fiber producers. These figures include an estimated spending by the top three home centers (Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards) of $140 million combined over the last five years, just for flooring.
Let me leave you with this thought. All the major retailers have store brands. Some, like Bellawood, Trafficmaster and SwiftLock, have varying degrees of equity. Flooring producers are reducing their advertising (communications with consumers) at a time when retailers are not following suit, diminishing flooring producers' brand equity and pushing themselves evermore closely to commodity status. What will happen to product margins for producers? What other expenditures will producers be forced to cut when margins fall—product development, research and development, or something else? What will this then lead to?
It is not too late for flooring producers to assess their market positions and redeem their brand positions and, therefore, their margins. The question is whether flooring producers can see behind the next quarter's income statement and invest in the future. Where would you put your long-term bet?
Copyright 2013 Floor Focus


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>Gears and Wears>Cheapest way to acquire a Garmin 305?
I've got a fever...
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.
Princess Cancer Pants
• Chemo
• Chemo-Radiation
• Surgery
• Return to kicking my own ass by 2018
She was not strong. She was valiant. Radiant. Brave and broken. The beauty she discovered in the aftermath was unparalleled to anything she had known before, because it had come at such a cost.
~ Unknown
I hate buy.com. A while back I ordered a film scanner from them that ended up out-of-stock. I waited a week, then cancelled the order and found it elsewhere. THEN they shipped it. I'd pay extra to get it elsewhere, personally.
Ditto all of that!! I initially bought from Buy.com too as they had the best price on an item, but I would definately avoid them and pay a little extra somewhere else. I placed an order, the thing never arrived, then I cancelled the order via priority email msg and live person on the phone. Then it arrived a few weeks later anyway!!
Suggestions of other places outside of buy.com?
When it's all said and done, will you have said more than you've done?
Suggestions of other places outside of buy.com?
Run like a kid again!
Also, is there an alternative to the chest band for doing the heart rate measurement?
If the chest strap bothers you, you're going to hate the new core temperature sensor that Garmin recently introduced.
How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.
Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head." - Joe Henderson


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Item Name: Appliance City - www.appliancecity.co.uk
Category: Online Domestic Appliance Shops


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Webb's quest for 20 wins proves elusive
Webb's quest for 20 wins proves elusive
LOS ANGELES -- To illustrate what a bad day it was for Brandon Webb on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, when Bob Melvin went to get the right-hander with two outs in the sixth inning after walking in a run with the bases loaded, Webb dropped the ball before he could hand it to the D-backs manager. It was Webb's third attempt at becoming the first National League pitcher since 2005 to notch 20 wins in a season, and for the third time, he dropped the ball. After the 7-2 loss, once again the seemingly phantom plateau will have to wait for his next start Friday night at Chase Field against the Reds. "It was just inconsistency, I don't know what to tell you," said Webb, after the D-backs dropped behind the Dodgers into second place in the National League West by a half-game for the first time since April 5. "I felt real good. I threw four good innings. A lot of pitches there I was trying to be too fine. I tried to nibble and it didn't work. It's not me."
Walking a career-high six batters (one intentional), while allowing all seven runs on five hits -- including a three-run homer to Manny Ramirez -- Webb continued a prolonged slump that couldn't have come at a worse time for his struggling team. In his past three starts, all losses, Webb has allowed 22 hits and 21 runs (19 earned) in 13 2/3 innings for a 12.57 ERA during that span. His once-gaudy 19-4 record and 2.74 ERA has slipped to 19-7 with a 3.41 ERA, perhaps damaging his chances to win a second NL Cy Young Award in the past three seasons. Webb worked in and out of trouble during his stint and at times his body language portrayed the obvious frustration as he flapped his glove and walked with shoulders a tad slumped back to the top of the mound after tossing another pitch out of the strike zone. For a pitcher who relies on synchronicity, 45 of his 101 pitches were balls. "He still got us where we needed to go for a while," Melvin said. "Then Manny hit the home run and he ran out of gas a little bit." The nexus of the game was two at-bats against Ramirez with runners jammed on the bases: two outs and the bases loaded in third and two outs with runners on first and second in the fifth. Both times, Webb pitched carefully to the left-handed Andre Ethier, hitting just in front of the right-handed Ramirez. Both times, Webb issued walks. Since Ethier came into the game a .500 hitter (9-for-18) with a homer and three RBIs against Webb, the 29-year-old right-hander actually said he was more comfortable pitching to Ramirez. The left fielder is hitting .403 with 11 homers and 34 RBIs overall since coming to the Dodgers in a trade with the Red Sox at the July 31 non-waiver Trade Deadline. "Yeah, you kind of have to pick your poison right there," Webb said. The first time, it worked out as Webb struck out Ramirez on three pitches. The second time, it didn't. Ramirez hit the first offering -- a fastball high in the strike zone -- the other way into the right-field pavilion for the three-run homer that gave the Dodgers what turned out to be an insurmountable, 3-0, lead. "I went 2-0 to Ethier the first time and I wasn't going to let him beat me, so I walked him kind of unintentional, intentionally, whatever," Webb said. "It worked out that time. Both of those guys [Ethier and Ramirez] are extremely hot right now. You just have to pick your spots and go after the guy you feel better against." Webb's losses have come in clusters this season, but this is the first time he's lost three consecutive decisions. He lost back-to-back decisions on May 21 and 26 and June 17 and 22 to account for his other four losses. He also opened the season with nine wins in his first nine decisions and was on an eight-game winning streak -- in 11 decisions -- when he was stopped cold on Aug. 26 against the Padres at San Diego. The other two most recent losses have been to the Dodgers. Webb has said the past few weeks that he's trying to have his arm come over the top with the rest of his body as he hurls the ball toward the plate. Because of the problem he hasn't been able to locate his classic sinker in the strike zone. As opposed to his previous two starts, Webb seemed to have mastered the problem at times on Saturday. But on too many other occasions, he obviously couldn't. Catcher Chris Snyder was trying to keep Webb in tow during the outing but not with much success, really. "I can't throw the ball for him," Snyder said. "I can't physically hold his arm up. All I can do is go out there and tell him what I'm seeing. It's up to him to be consistent." Right now that's not happening and right now the top two D-backs pitchers -- Dan Haren and Webb -- are not producing. In their past four combined starts, all against the Dodgers and all losses, Arizona has been outscored, 28-5. And largely because of it, the D-backs are now out of first place. "Things are magnified right now because of all this," Webb said. "And the fact that me and Haren haven't thrown great the last few starts magnifies it even more. We'll keep going out there trying to do it. I've got four starts left, I think, and those will be the biggest ones I've had all year. I've just got to bear down."
Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.