Lecturer in Gas? I want that job

While flicking over the pages of the morning rag, the Metro, my eyes were caught by this advertisement.

When I peered closer, this is what it says:

Not bad, eh? you talk about gas, you get up to 33k per year, 46 days leave plus study leave and a final salary pension scheme. That's pushing it to well around 45k per year. Not bad, eh?

Even though I have no idea about how the gassification, transportation of gas, LPG or what have you works, I am an expert in hot air and gas, I wonder if I can apply for this?

Technorati Tags: universities

Malaysia blogger to be released

Another win for freedom of speech!, good work folks!

 

A Malaysian judge has ordered the release of a prominent critic of the government, Raja Petra Kamaruddin.

Raja Petra, 58, editor of the website Malaysia Today, was being held under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

But the judge said the government had acted outside its jurisdiction when it issued a two-year detention order.

The government alleged that Raja Petra was a threat to national security having published articles that it said created racial tension.

He is due in court later in the day, and will then be freed, the state news agency Bernama reported.

His lawyer, Malik Imtiaz, described Friday's ruling as "historic" and said it was "definitely a wonderful step in terms of civil liberties in Malaysia".

Raja Petra has increasingly angered the Malaysian authorities with his Malaysia Today website, the country's best-known political blog.

He still faces charges of sedition for an article he published which linked Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak to the 2006 murder of a Mongolian woman, Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Mr Najib, who has consistently denied any involvement, is widely expected to take over as prime minister when incumbent Abdullah Badawi agrees on a transition date.

Raja Petra was arrested on 12 September under the ISA as part of a government clampdown on opposition voices.

Technorati Tags: Malaysia,Freedom of Speech

Oxford compiles list of top ten irritating phrases

Editors every where beware, lol, so amusing. I confess to be guilty of all of them....

 

 

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It's a nightmare

8 - Shouldn't of

9 - 24/7

10 - It's not rocket science

The meek shall inherit the earth but not its mineral rights

This was a quote by J. Paul Getty - "The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral rights." How ironic and vaguely amusing... Pretty much says it all, you can be all religious and stuff, but at end of the day, economics rules, eh?

Technorati Tags: humour

California to get high speed rail system

This is good news indeed, USA has to start investing in its infrastructure, specially when energy prices are sky high. I quote:

 

The first phase of the rail line would link Anaheim, Los Angeles, Fresno and San Francisco.

Planners eventually want to include Sacramento, San Diego and Oakland.

The $9.9 billion proposition includes $9 billion for bullet trains and $950 million for conventional commuter and intercity rail, including trains to connect travelers with the high-speed system.

But again, knowing public procurement and government implementation, voters should be prepared to pony up at least three times this. Best of luck to them and are the other American states listening? What America now needs is the railway equivalent of the interstate highway system. See how much it did. Here's a good history of the highway system. Fascinating, these are the arteries of any modern nation, but they do get old and need bypass surgery every now and then...

Technorati Tags: transportation,railways,USA

Some days (like today) I feel like this

Apologies for the language, but some days, its just really really bad.

Professor's do not impact their students politics?

I am not very sure if this is so true. If this story is correct, then it does not matter what you teach, your passion, your ideas, your ideology and the students will simply keep on going with what they have learnt in terms of politics and society by the time they are 15 years of age? I quote:

An article of faith among conservative critics of American universities has been that liberal professors politically indoctrinate their students. This conviction not only fuelled the culture wars but has also led state lawmakers to consider requiring colleges to submit reports to the government detailing their progress in ensuring “intellectual diversity,” prompted universities to establish faculty positions devoted to conservatism and spurred the creation of a network of volunteer watchdogs to monitor “political correctness” on campuses.

....

But a handful of new studies have found such worries to be overwrought. Three sets of researchers recently concluded that professors have virtually no impact on the political views and ideology of their students.

See one of the papers here. Hmmm, not sure at all, after all, the influence of teachers stops at eternity...

Technorati Tags: Universities

How to NOT to win friends and influence people, Gordon

Right now, that dork, Gordon Brown, is swanning around in the Gulf. You know what I think of him, he is a humourless, incompetent, arrogant, stupid, cowardly man who is unfit to lead the United Kingdom's local recycling centres, forget about the country. He has no dignity at all, he begs at the slightest hint, currently begging the Saudi's to give more money. Get a grip, man, have some dignity.

Oh! I am sorry, you have already sold the country down the toilet to pay for your unfunded obligations and your bizarre theory to spend your way out of recession. Keynes, notwithstanding, you idiot, who is going to give you money? and since when is the Public Sector (which you ruined) is good at efficiently spending my tax money?

Idiot.

Anyway, here's a great article on how he basically hacked off a neighbour. I quote:

No one disputes that Iceland’s economic troubles are largely the country’s own fault. But there may be more to the story, at least in the view of Iceland’s government, its citizens and even some outsiders. As grave as their situation already was, they say, Britain — their old friend, NATO ally and trading partner — made it immeasurably worse.

You know what that makes you, Gordon? Besides the above, it also makes you untrustworthy, backstabber and frankly not a very good man to know. You are actually slimy, not to be trusted. The sooner you are chucked out of office, the better it will be for the country.

Now this is a job!!!

Public sector pensions will cost £1 trillion

Now this is something for me to be very happy to be waking up to. When I look at my pension performance, I see a sea of red. My wife tells me that I have to simply suck it up for several years, keep on piling on more and more of my salary into my pension, without hope for a good return. Not only that, we have that idiot Gordon Brown, promising to spend his way out of recession. All this means that my taxes will be going up as well.

So I end up with rocketing prices, falling pensions, increased taxes and then stories like this. I quote:

The average public sector worker will be entitled to a pension worth £17,091 a year, according to data compiled by Ros Altmann, a former adviser to Tony Blair. By contrast, the average private sector pension annuity last year paid £1,086.

Hmmm, how nice of those Labour politicians to fund all their source of funding colleagues from my taxes. Isn't this cosy? three quarters of Labour Party funding comes from Trade Unions. Now if this is not unfair and stupid, what is? Needless to say, the local Labour MP ain't going to get my vote, that is for sure. Throw these bums out, I say. But the rot goes even further, check out this.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance has obtained figures showing that 17,150 public sector workers have already retired with pension pots worth more than £1m each. Nearly 10,500 NHS workers; 3,680 civil servants; 815 judges; 1,800 teachers, mainly former heads; and 167 Royal Mail staff have retired on seven-figure pension funds.

This is gobsmacking. You might say, hey, the public sector pensions have to be better because the salaries are lower. Oh! really? I further quote:

According to the Office for National Statistics, the average public sector worker earned £25,896 a year in 2007, compared to £22,828 in the private sector. Only the top 20% of private sector workers are paid more than public sector peers.

So where on earth is this stupid government taking us? down the bung hole, more like it. What a bunch of stupid morons. They will turn out and say, we are trying to control costs. Are you now?

In 2006 the government raised the retirement age of new entrants to public sector pensions schemes and made a series of other changes in a bid to reduce its pension costs by £13bn. These reforms will only cut its pension bill by 1% over the next 50 years.

I mean, even forget about ideological differences, just throw these bums out on the simple grounds that they are incompetent. No, not incompetent, they are simply stupid. And then they talk about high quality public sector workforce? On what basis, you stupid morons? Is quality of service improving? no. Are we getting better in our education or health care provision? no. As I said, these dunderheads are simply stupid.