Jul 2, 2007

Triple Point

In physics and chemistry, the triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) of that substance may coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium.

Thank you , Wikipedia.

In the blogosphere (yes, I hate that term too) there is an equivalent 'triple point' condition that sometimes occurs when *exactly* the precise conditions of pressure, temperature, and, yes, management levels of ineptitude reach that very same analogous crucial point, that well...

Let me put it this way: imagine a good, patriotic, Republican church-going contingent of the religious right meeting, say, Hugh Hefner, Elton John, Mick Jagger, and, um, Rosie O'Donnel, unexpectedly, down at the neighborhood Furrs for dinner one Sunday evening.

Kind of like that, only a tad more uncomfortable.

But I digress:

One approaches that nexus at some magically undefinable state in space-time when the entropy of whatever particular real-world environment has reached sufficient pressure-cooker tension that, well, people start to implode.

AND explode. Very nearly at the same time. The resultant effects on the gamma ray field densities, Raleigh-Taylor instabilities, Polonium annealing properties, fast AND slow neutron fluxes, and other such technical details with which we will not bore you, result in a condition known as:

Comment Moderation!

You got it.

Comment moderation has been turned on!

Flame away, Peckerheads! Only the reasonable amongst you will be heard!

Welcome to Corporate America. The only difference being:

*We* don't track your IP address.*

Yet.

*This offer subject to total misinterpretation, total denial, and/or legal prosecution by our paid bevy of legal beagles.

Signed, of course,

--Gussie

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

WELCOME TO THE LANS BLOG...... WHAT A JOKE

Gussie Fink-Nottle said...

For the skeptics among you, the above two contributions are examples behind the decision to enable comment moderation.

You're welcome.

--Gussie

Anonymous said...

Thank you. Seriously.

Anonymous said...

Gussie, I applaud your comment moderation. There have been some really nasty personal attacks on some people of late. Maybe now some of the cowardly individuals who have been using this venue as a means to go after people anonymously will think twice.

Dr. Strangelove said...

Gussie-

Good luck on keeping up with it, but you (and Pinky+Brain) have proven to have more energy and stamina than the Good Doctor.

We apologize for the gender mistake... we really DID think Gussie was the name of one of Doug Robert's peahens who had taken over from the mice!

Meanwhile... save up the ones you delete and build a nice ugly collage for us to share later.

We could call it recycling?

- Doc

Dr. Strangelove said...

Oh... and the "Triple-point" analogy was just perfect!

Keep it coming!

Anonymous said...

think? now that this is a sheep's blog.... there won't be much thinking evident...

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Anonymous said...

Blog writing combined with large quantities of booze don't mix very well. Thanks, Gussie.

BTW, word is a strict new policy is coming out regarding LANL laptops. It's going to be a real stinker. If you need to use a LANL laptop for travel, etc., be aware that LANL is not going to make it easy for you to do so any longer. Just another way LANS is going to make work at LANL less and less efficient.

Anonymous said...

The LANS ready-fire-aim patrol has decided to create a laptop pool to control laptops used for foreign travel. Only laptops from the pool will be allowed out on foreign travel. This will supposedly prevent an itinerant laptop from ever being connected to the yellow network thus preventing viruses from being transferred. It will also supposedly prevent data from being lost should the laptop be stolen abroad.

Oh, but many LANL staff use more than WORD and EUDORA? The LANS "experts" didn't think of that.

Staff will have to mirror their laptop's hard drive onto the pool laptop in order to have their files, data, and other specialized software available.

Oh, mirroring software isn't allowed under software piracy law? The LANS "experts" didn't think of that.

So there will have to be additional software licenses for the pool laptops? The LANS "experts" didn't think of that.

And to save any data generated on the foreign trip, the data will have to be copied onto the staff's computer upon return. Along with any viruses contracted? The LANS "experts" didn't think of that either.

Is theft of laptops on foreign trips really a problem? According to property control, the annual loss rate for laptops is about 0.5%. Precisely the same as the loss rate for desktops. Stand back people, a desktop pool is coming soon.

Anonymous said...

The problem is not limited to LANL. DOE and other Federal agencies are so frustrated (and embarrassed) about lost labtops, that serious consideration is being given to greatly reducing or eliminating labtops all together. You can expect to hear more in the near future.

Anonymous said...

This will be my last viewing of this blog. You're now no better than the Lab Newbulletin or Fox news. What a shame. For awhile there people could express their unadulterated views and relieve their pent up frustrations, albeit for a brief moment. But with the censorship you've now instituted for this blog there's really no point. Only those views that conveniently fit within the confines of what you consider acceptable is all that will appear? No thanks. Yes, some of the comments were outrageous at times, but were valid nonetheless. Your Stripper Cow for example, truly crossed the line of good taste, but nobody has censored you, have they? It is YOUR blogg after all. Well you can have it then. I'm outa here!

Gussie Fink-Nottle said...

We'll attempt to soldier on without you, 8:23 AM.

Pip, pip, cheerio, and all that.

--Gussie

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
Gussie, I applaud your comment moderation. There have been some really nasty personal attacks on some people of late. Maybe now some of the cowardly individuals who have been using this venue as a means to go after people anonymously will think twice.

7/2/07 8:27 PM

While I toatlly agree with you I must broach this from the other side. One of the most chastised people on this blog - do you think there was a reason for such spite and disrespect? Many of us have worked with one individual in common and know that this "one" person is on a mission to become a whistleblower whether on not the facts can be massaged to support it or not. I don't respect that. I do think that the public "flogging", by cowards as some denote,serves the purpose of people blowing the whilstle at every inconceivable fact. I've been involved in the WB process before, and when it is for real - understand one thing - The glory whores - had NOTHING to do with it.

Anonymous said...

8.23AM

You are right the cow was in bad taste, but you have to admit it was funny.

Anonymous said...

7/3/07 8:23 AM

We'll be just fine without you!! (You might want to get some thicker skin, or move to a lower elevation)

-----------------------

Kudos on the cow. It summarized the debacle

Anonymous said...

"Have you got milk?"

I thought it was a hoot! ; )

Anonymous said...

"You are right the cow was in bad taste, but you have to admit it was funny."

I guess, if you're 10 years old and think that a man getting beaten to within inches of his life is humorous. It's ironic how the people running the blog complain how LANL staff are not doing enough to influence the course of the laboratory, while the best they can do is spend their time Photoshopping some tits onto a cow. It seems to me that whomever is running this blog does not want to see LANL improve, but is probably a pissed off malcontent who is trying to drive it into the ground. Moderation of comments only allows him/her to filter out anything not aligned with that mission. The blog, which could have been a place for real discussion, has become an embarrassment for our institution.

Anonymous said...

Only a totally "addicted" workaholic needs to take a laptop. Its time everyone realized that you can read a book during the flight, or just catch up on sleep. Start using your time for yourself, and quit working more hours than required. You are just stressing yourself out, and not doing a good job!

Anonymous said...

"You are right the cow was in bad taste, but you have to admit it was funny."

9:22
"I guess, if you're 10 years old"

In every real man a child is hidden that wants to play.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Anonymous said...

9:22 Photoshop may have enlarged them, but all cows (females) have tits. Bulls (not females) are the ones that come with other equipment.

Others of us have seen enough examples of the "noise" that this blog can attract to support at least moderation in support of good taste. Elimination of Eric's smarmy and stupid commercialism wouldn't hurt the blog either.

Anonymous said...

7/3/07 9:22 PM

Are you serious? Hook was beaten for reasons that had nothing to do with LANL, just the extremely poor quality of individual he is.

Is beating right? Of course not. Did it get his attention? Of course. Did it make other glory whores think twice about inidating the government with lies and false claims? Of course.

Anonymous said...

10:17 AM - do you really think the Hook beating has made other glory whores think twice about indicting the government with lies and false claims? Please! Everyone knows that any two-bit liar can make false claims against a LANL employee and walk away with thousands to millions of dollars. Maybe without a future job, but they are definitely not afraid of a beating. Just look at the past few years and you will be able to count the number of claims on both hands. The Hooks' beating did nothing to stop whistleblowers or wannabe whistleblowers.

Anonymous said...

Gussie, I have noticed that the acceptance of posts has been taking quite a while. Any chance this could be improved? The immediate gratification of seeing post appear was nice and it did seem to stimulate some good dialogue. The long delay is making any kind of conversation with others difficult. Thanks.