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The winner of COW this week is a beautiful sharp-tongued response to one of those toxic anonymous comments we see far too many of. First the toxic bit, from the How chintzy is LANS management, you ask? post:9:30 pm: "shovanist"
Huh? Did you by chance mean "chauvinist"? Don't you even bother to stop and think whether your spelling is correct? If not, you obviously don't care how stupid you come off. But since you obviously don't read unless forced to, you must be ok with that.
To which our winner supplied some instant, if not quite pre-emptive, karma a few minutes later at 10:02:Huh? Did you by chance mean "chauvinist"? Don't you even bother to stop and think whether your spelling is correct? If not, you obviously don't care how stupid you come off. But since you obviously don't read unless forced to, you must be ok with that.
9:48, I apologize as English is not my native tongue. Thank you for pointing out my error. You are still a dick, however. I think I got the spelling correct on that one, no?
Congratulations, and thank you, 10:02. While I admit that is really is not all that difficult to make many of the anonymous contributors here look exceedingly stupid, you did so with style and a touch of flair. Bravo!
--Doug
76 comments:
Stop whining!!! I hate it and it is all I see in this town. I go to church and hear the
people whining, I go to the supermarket and see kids whining. I walk my dog and I hear the people whining about work. I look around and I can hear the trees and birds whining. Be men dammit and stop whining. Back at boot camp we had a saying "you are in bootcamp, in bootcamp you cannot wear Teddies and slippers." It was a hard, very hard lesson for me, but I manned up and did not whine.
12:20 AM
You're whining.
"I look around and I can hear the trees and birds whining."
That's mildly disturbing.
Is this man in HRP?
12:20am, you are free to leave any time. Life is not bootcamp.
I think you'll find that most people with a Phd do not resonate with boot camp stories about becoming a man. They also don't generally believe that, "thank you, sir, can I have another?" is a philosophy to live by. In short, they use their brains and sometimes that means accepting that things are not as they should be. Now, drop and give me twenty.
I imagine anonymous poster 9:48 doesn't feel quite as smart now as he did when he was composing his little missive.
Imagine if word leaked out who he was. He might have told somebody about what he posted. Imagine if his name was plastered all over this blog; wouldn't that be fun?
That will probably never happen, but at least 9:48 realizes that he's been outed as a fool. I guess that's what karma is all about.
Boot Camp? Most of these over-educated "meat-balls" couldnt make it through boot camp.....
"Boot Camp? Most of these over-educated "meat-balls" couldnt make it through boot camp.....
5/24/09 4:21 PM"
I hear you brother! They would all wash out. God would I love to see these egg-heads try and make it in the military. Ya see how that education of yours serve you with boot up your ass! Ha, ha, ha! Hell, I will say, the only people that should be able to serve as President are people who served in the military, you will never hear a man like McCain whine. In the military you fit in, you know your place, you do not complain, you do not whine on blogs, you do not think, you obey, and you follow orders like a man. Try it sometime.
I guess you're excused from learning to speak and spell English if you live here but say it's not your "native tongue." By the way, who except bad Tonto imitators use the phrase "native tongue"? I think the 10:02 reply is from a (too) clever US "native." Note that the only English spelling or grammar mistake in the original post and the reply is the one misspelling pointed out. A little too quick with the PC responses here, I think.
Re: 8:17,
Oh, brother...
Macho Man is in the house.
8:17 pm: "In the military you fit in, you know your place, you do not complain, you do not whine on blogs, you do not think, you obey..."
Yeah, "you do not think" - which explains your level of education. When you are forbidden to think, you make a wonderful grunt. You make a lousy citizen.
Re: 8:17,
Oh, brother...
Macho Man is in the house.
5/24/09 8:25 PM
Do you mean Randy Savage?
Jesse Ventura maybe.
LANL's Wellness Center has started classes which teach you how to enjoy your job no matter how awful it may be. The timing for this new class is perfect.
Perhaps the next step will be for LANS to issue mandatory online training to teach each employee how to "man up" when faced with working in an institution which is quickly falling apart. I nominate 12:20 AM to help design this much needed course. He sounds like he's just the fellow to help lead LANL workers out of the forest and into He-Man Land where everyone holds their feelings in, wears a stiff upper lip, and no pussies are ever allowed... that is, until the day when they finally go "postal". Judging by his comments about hearing whining birds and trees, that day may not be too far off for 12:20 AM.
From Reuters:
North Korea conducts nuclear test
Sun May 24, 2009 11:37pm EDT
By Jonathan Thatcher
Seoul (Reuters) - North Korea said it successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, a move certain to further isolate the impoverished state which argues it has no choice but to build an atomic arsenal to protect itself in a hostile world.
"(North Korea) successfully conducted one more underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of the measures to bolster up its nuclear deterrent for self-defense in every way," the North´s official KCNA news agency said.
It added that the underground test "was safely conducted on a new higher level in terms of its explosive power and technology of its control."
The news knocked South Korean financial markets with the main share index falling 4 percent at one stage on fears the test will raise tension in a region which accounts for one sixth of the global economy.
"The reported test appears to be aimed at securing ultimate endorsement of its nuclear power status from the United States and bringing Washington to the negotiation table," said Kim Sung-han a professor at Korea University.
"It could increase investor concerns about South Korea as the test may further worsen already soured inter-Korea relations," he added.
Noth Korea has for weeks thratened to conduct the test -- its first was in October 2006 -- in response to tighter international sanctions following its launch of a rocket in April.
The communist state said that lauch was to put a communications satellite into space. The international community said it was a disguised long-range missile.
Following the added sanctions, Pyongyang also said it would no longer be a party to regional talks on giving up attempts to build nuclear weapons in exchange for massive aid and an end to its status as a pariah state.
Some analysts have said the test may also be aimed at boosting the position at home of iron-leader Kim Jong-il, widely believed to have suffered a stroke last year.
Several say Kim, who succeeded his father to create the world´s first communist dynasty, may be trying secure the succession for one of his three sons and that a nuclear test in defiance of world opinion could help him win support to do so from his hardline military.
(Reporting by Rhee So-eul, Park Jong-young, Marie-France Han, Jon Herskovitz, Yoo Choonsik and Jack Kim, Writing by Jonathan Thatcher, Editing by Dean Yates)
(http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleld=USSEO14165620090525)
PS: Pres. Obama, and Congress, the time for modernizing the US nuclear weapons, and their delivery systems is long overdue, 15-20 years.
8:17 might make a lousy citizen, but he makes a great corporate drone.
"He sounds like he's just the fellow to help lead LANL workers out of the forest and into He-Man Land where everyone holds their feelings in, wears a stiff upper lip, and no pussies are ever allowed"
Damm right! Guys who can man-up do not like pussies! We only like real men!
"Judging by his comments about hearing whining birds and trees, that day may not be too far off for 12:20 AM.
5/24/09 9:52 PM"
Hey take it easy it was just some sarcasm. Looking at some of the old posts that I was trying to make fun of I can see that they are not all that differnet from my spoofs.
Hey, "man up" y'all. It is time to drain this here swamp!
It is like McCarthy-ism all over again. What a tragedy for the country.
A recent Chemical and Engineering News discussed an advance in quantum dots. A LANL quantum dot expert was asked to comment. I was astounded to see how petulant LANL’s Hollingsworth was in commenting on an advance made by someone else. It looks like LANL’s whining is not confined to this blog, but is also expressed in widely-read magazines.
Quantum Dots That Don't Blink
Core structure suppresses blinking and leads to unusual spectral behavior
Celia Henry Arnaud
A team of scientists has synthesized semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, that are "nonblinking," in that they emit light steadily. Such behavior has long been a goal of scientists working with quantum dots and should improve the usefulness of the nanocrystals for biological labeling applications by increasing the number of photons the particles emit.
NO BLINKING Quantum dots with a gradient core emit continuously and at multiple wavelengths.
Blinking is a hallmark of fluorescent single molecules and nanometer-scale crystals; it occurs because the luminescence intermittently turns off even with continuous excitation. Excited quantum dots get rid of their extra energy through radiative processes—by emitting light—or nonradiative processes. "When the dot blinks off, nonradiative processes are winning," says team leader Todd D. Krauss, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Rochester. In quantum dots, this blinking is thought to be the result of extra charges that enhance nonradiative decay.
Krauss's team eliminates the blinking by making quantum dots whose compositions gradually change from the center to the shell (Nature, DOI: 10.1038/nature08072). They layer ZnSe on top of a CdSe core, anneal the layers, and deposit additional ZnSe around it. The process generates a ternary core with a radial composition gradient that smooths the particle's potential energy function and makes nonradiative processes less efficient.
However, the nonblinking comes with unusual spectral behavior. Quantum dots usually have a single, sharp emission peak. The new quantum dots, in contrast, have multiple peaks in their emission spectra. Multiple peaks might mean emission spectra of different quantum dots will overlap, which could complicate their use as biological sensors. The extra peaks come from part of the quantum dots' excitation energy being emitted as photons at longer wavelengths. In addition, the time the unblinking quantum dots stay in their excited state before emitting a photon is much shorter than that of traditional CdSe nanocrystals.
Krauss and coworkers, including Alexander L. Efros of the Naval Research Laboratory, posit that both the suppressed blinking and the unusual spectral characteristics can be explained by the lower efficiency nonradiative processes caused by the composition gradient. "Nonradiative processes become efficient only when you have very sharply defined potential barriers," Krauss says, and the gradient rounds off the corners of the potential energy function. Krauss plans to test their model of quantum dot behavior by varying the materials and sizes of nonblinking quantum dots.
Jennifer Hollingsworth, a chemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who also is developing nonblinking quantum dots, comments that the work by Krauss and coworkers is "certainly an interesting addition" to earlier studies by two groups, including hers, that reported having significantly suppressed but not completely eliminated blinking in semiconductor nanocrystals. "It will be important to see whether they will be able to extend this approach to other systems and whether this thin-shell motif will hold up to processing."
"you will never hear a man like McCain whine"
McCain Complains About The Media
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/mccain-complain.html
FOXNews.com - John McCain Battles Conservative Group With Dueling ...
Mar 21, 2007 ... The club put up video with footage of McCain complaining about the group's recent report on his economic record. ...
McCain Lays Out His Top Cabinet Picks | 44 | washingtonpost.com
Oct 31, 2008 ... Wait a minute, wasn't McCain complaining yesterday about Obama picking his cabinet and measuring for Oval Office drapes? ...
voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/10/31/mccain_lays_out_his_top_cabine.html -
That is just a few John McCain complaints. The internet is filled with them. Now I order you like a good non-thinking, obedient man to go to the internet and read about John and all of his complaints before writing to this blog again.
PS: Pres. Obama, and Congress, the time for modernizing the US nuclear weapons, and their delivery systems is long overdue, 15-20 years.
5/24/09 10:20 PM
You don't seem to understand that modernizing or upgrading the nuclear stockpile will do absolutely nothing to stop North Korea. Why is it so hard for so many on this blog to figure that one out? Must not be very swift I guess.
A recent Chemical and Engineering "News discussed an advance in quantum dots. A LANL quantum dot expert was asked to comment. I was astounded to see how petulant LANL’s Hollingsworth was in commenting on an advance made by someone else. It looks like LANL’s whining is not confined to this blog, but is also expressed in widely-read magazines."
No idiot, read some other artilces of this type they all have the same format.
"You don't seem to understand that modernizing or upgrading the nuclear stockpile will do absolutely nothing to stop North Korea. Why is it so hard for so many on this blog to figure that one out? Must not be very swift I guess.
5/25/09 8:05 AM"
???????????
Where do they come from ?
8:05 AM
You're right. Obama should continue with his "vision" to reduce the US nuclear weapon inventory to zero. Instead of maintaining an effective deterrent, Obama can go to North Korea to start a constructive dialog with Kim Jong Il. That'll surely work. Maybe Obama can even invite Zardari from Pakistan and Ahmadinejad from Iran too. Maybe the four insightful world leaders can have a big Kumbaya moment.
Yes, 8:49, C&EN articles have the format of reporting an advance followed by a quote from another person in the field.
I was just commenting that Hollingsworth was clearly expressing a sour grapes attitude toward very nice work by Krauss. Her comments, which were especially dismissive of Krauss' Nature paper, reflect poorly on her and LANL.
"Stop whining!!!" This is the tactic perfected in the Clinton administration. If you can't attack the argument attack the messenger. Claim they are whining, are too negative, cynical, a republican, a democrat, a bushie, etc. Anything to distract and avoid addressing the comment.
While I do appreciate the chemistry bashing on this blog, there is nothing wrong with Hollingsworth's comments. Stop looking for something that isn't there.
To 8:22: Are you the "dick" to whom he is refering?
That was my guess as well, 12:29.
Rambo is just pissy that some guy won american idol and not some other guy (see other posting). Now go back to your closet at the checkpoint and wave people in...
8:51am,
The Republican party.
"You're right. Obama should continue with his "vision" to reduce the US nuclear weapon inventory to zero."
In fact it was Ronald Regan's vision.
???????????
Where do they come from ?
Wow, that is some deep strategic thinking there. Do you have a point?
"A recent Chemical and Engineering News discussed an advance in quantum dots. A LANL quantum dot expert was asked to comment. I was astounded to see how petulant LANL’s Hollingsworth was in commenting on an advance made by someone else. It looks like LANL’s whining is not confined to this blog, but is also expressed in widely-read magazines.5/25/09
7:57 AM"
From reading the article I do not see what you are talking about. Did you post the right one?
Regardless of what some may say, many of the posts you see on this blog are a good indication of the deterioration of LANL and the emergence of the C-class student as lab employees. Back-stabbing, pettiness, meanness, I-got-mine, you're an idiot, etc, etc, etc., all raised to new heights under the management of a a badly broken NNSA and a for-profit LANS LLC headed up by a sleazy construction company called Bechtel.
If you're a young post doc looking for a good position at a research lab, you don't want to be working here. Heck, if you're a scientist at LANL you probably don't want to be working here either, right?
It's a sick place and getting sicker by the minute. Mike may make his much wished for 5% attrition figure and then some for the next fiscal year. So many good scientists have already fled LANL, it's sad to watch this train wreck.
5/25/09 2:51 PM
The main objective for Pres. Reagan was to defeat communism, and Soviet Union, e.g. to win the Cold War.
PS: Obama is talk, talk, talk, and nothing else.
7:28 pm: "Obama is talk, talk, talk, and nothing else."
Apparently, that is all that's required to be worshiped by the majority of the American people. Sad. Once upon a time, our heros had to actually do something, instead of just being something, or saying something.
Obama is actually all teleprompter and no action.
Several commenters are being willfully dense. All scientists know the coded language.
‘"certainly an interesting addition" to earlier studies by two groups, including hers’ = I really did it first, and wah-wah why doesn’t C&EN recognize that.
"It will be important to see whether they will be able to extend this approach to other systems and whether this thin-shell motif will hold up to processing." = even if they did scoop me, I’ll disparage them by implying that their process is not practical.
When interviewed about something that scoops you, you should be a good sport. The correct answer is something like "this has been a longstanding goal, and I congratulate Professor Smith on an elegant solution."
Hollingsworth is a LANL darling who management is desperately trying to keep happy so that she stays at LANL. She has not come up with one original idea and has been riding on the coat tails of Victor Klimov. LANL has dumped over $20M into quantum dots since 2000. Now that Victor got a DOE-BES EFRC (that Hollingsworth is part of) and Hollingsworth was picked by Sarrao to lead a DOE-BES SISGR, I would say the institutional investment should move onto another area ... right Terry Wallace and Bill Preidhorsky?
Several commenters are being willfully dense. All scientists know the coded language.
‘"certainly an interesting addition" to earlier studies by two groups, including hers’ = I really did it first, and wah-wah why doesn’t C&EN recognize that.
"It will be important to see whether they will be able to extend this approach to other systems and whether this thin-shell motif will hold up to processing." = even if they did scoop me, I’ll disparage them by implying that their process is not practical.
When interviewed about something that scoops you, you should be a good sport. The correct answer is something like "this has been a longstanding goal, and I congratulate Professor Smith on an elegant solution."
5/25/09 8:59 PM
Hey 8:59 PM this dog won't hunt.
It is a standard article and they all sound like this, try reading a few. It rather obvious that you have very little knowledge about scientific publications. All your little tirade shows is that you are rather ignorant and bitter. But hey feel free to make a fool of yourself and good move putting the actuall article up it just makes you look more like fool.
9:49 pm: "Hey 8:59 PM this dog won't hunt."
What a stupid, east-Arkansas saying. If you have picked it up from another source, thinking it is smart, sophisticated, and relevant, you should rethink your persona. You just sound like a hillbilly.
"9:49 pm: "Hey 8:59 PM this dog won't hunt."
What a stupid, east-Arkansas saying. If you have picked it up from another source, thinking it is smart, sophisticated, and relevant, you should rethink your persona. You just sound like a hillbilly.
5/25/09 10:40 PM"
Hey I was just trying to put it in terms that I thought someone like you would understand.
Incorrect, 9:49 PM. Look at the comments in the surrounding briefs. "Exciting progress... of vital importance..." and "a great example of pushing the field... to the next level."
Hollingsworth tries to make the Krauss work sound like something you'd wipe your butt with, which is funny considering how many years she's been trying to make non-blinking QD's herself.
5/25/09 8:22 PM
Couldn't you have included all of your comments on one post instead of three? Are you trying to convince us that there are a bunch of like minded people that just happened to post serially?
7:38,
I the future I will quarantine all political posts like those of 8:22 until he is done spamming, and then post them all as one comment, which can be easily ignored.
"Incorrect, 9:49 PM. Look at the comments in the surrounding briefs. "Exciting progress... of vital importance..." and "a great example of pushing the field... to the next level."
Hollingsworth tries to make the Krauss work sound like something you'd wipe your butt with, which is funny considering how many years she's been trying to make non-blinking QD's herself.
5/26/09 6:46 AM"
It is not there 6:46AM. These particular articles have the same format. If you read a few of these you will see that
they always have a voice of caution. It is standard and you barking up the wrong tree.
In fact the editors and writers of these artilces pick and choose what they put in them after a lengthy phone interview. By the way all scientists know this how it works.
You just sound like a bitter person with some personal agenda.
So the lab stops bottled water, and now the state claims contaminants are headed to the labs drinking water aquifer?
When does the insanity end?
Reading this blog is better than watching Zardoz!
"Reading this blog is better than watching Zardoz!"
But not quite as intellectually stimulating.
"But not quite as intellectually stimulating." (Doug)
As the latest Congressional report on the NNSA research labs states (the Perry report), "intellectual integrity" at the NNSA research labs is in serious decline. What do you expect?
I'm currently working on my PhD in physics in New Mexico. In light of the current economy, do you recommend doing a postDoc year or two? Moreover, is Los Alamos National Laboratory the right place for this? Thank you.
wtf is Zardoz?
and don't you people need to get back to work? honestly...
and to 12:07 PM, you are reading this blog...what do you think?
Kids these days.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070948/
Well, 12:07. You failed the first intelligence test: you've read the blog and you are still asking if you should come here to work.
I suppose at this juncture, pointing out that "chauvinist" isn't really an English word is anti-climatic. Chauvin was a French soldier and the term "chauvinism" was first used in a French play.
It pains me to give credit for anything of worth (including a word) to the French, but there you have it.
7:42 am: Doug, I was the author of one (not the other two) of the three anti-Obama posts you used as an excuse to "quarantine" "political" posts because of what you called "spamming." Ready to admit a little political bias of your own? Also, I thought this was Frank's blog to decide whether to "quarantine" or not? I guess it's only Frank's when you don't want to deal with an issue. I'll be interested to see if you "quarantine" this.
Somebody needs to inform Tom D'Agostino that if he's finally getting concerned about the loss of "intellectual integrity" at his research labs, he's probably a little too late.
In fact, he's due to lose at least 5% more of his scientific workforce over this next year. They're calling it attrition at NNSA but it's mostly the best and brightest at the labs running out the front doors as fast as they can:
--------------------
May 21, 2009
Oral Testimony on "NNSA's Fiscal Year 2010 President’s Budget Request" before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies
Administrator Thomas P. D'Agostino
...The challenge for the Stockpile Stewardship Program for the future will be to make effective use of the full suite of tools and capabilities. Following the completion of the NPR, we will prepare a five-year plan which recapitalizes our infrastructure, retains our scientific, technical, and engineering expertise, and makes full use of our experimental and supercomputing capabilities.
Chairman Visclosky, numerous external reviews have identified the fragile state of our technical expertise and capabilities that reside in our people. It is clear that people are our most important resource. We need to retain those skills and capabilities and develop the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technicians needed to perform work in nonproliferation, nuclear counterterrorism, and forensics. We also need the skilled personnel to maintain the stockpile for the foreseeable future without the benefit of underground nuclear testing.
http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/news/2387.htm
Dear 8:41:
I am egalitarian. I will quarantine any childish ideological ejaculations that attempt to pollute my one contribution per week to Frank's blog.
Left wingers, right wingers; it doesn't matter. I am happy to help you keep your sophomoric political blatherings to yourselves.
I will, however, take particular pleasure in quarantining the comments that have the hysterical flavor of "Obama is going to take my guns away!"
I admit it, freely.
Have a nice evening.
Oh, and BTW: q grrrl, you rock!
On a positive note, how can we make LANL a better place to work? What can we do to make it a pleasant place and recruit the best and brightest? Are there any examples we can follow? How can we make the management better?
Frank, can you post Dr. Sig Hecker´s, "From Pyongyang to Tehran, with nukes."
(http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/26/from_pyongyang_to_tehran)
How can we make the management better?
5/26/09 9:42 PM
Uh, hire some competent people for starters?
9:42 asks an honest question which, in my opinion, deserves an honest answer. The most direct, most effective, most fair-minded way to help LANS management is to simply show them the door. While it is probably unrealistic to expect to work for people of the caliber of Agnew or Bradbury or even Hecker, I'll take a random person off the street over Nanos or Anastasio.
"On a positive note, how can we make LANL a better place to work?"
(A) Get rid of for-profit management and move LANL to better leadership under a non-profit (i.e., follow the model of thriving DOE labs like ORNL, PNNL, and ANL).
(B) The core problem is NNSA. As many distinguished people and official reports have observed, NNSA are risk adverse in the extreme and are killing the labs with their crazy, work destroying policies. Get rid of NNSA and move the labs under a consortium like that mentioned in the recent Stimson Center report.
That's about it. But, then again, those two items have been mentioned many times before.
Nothing will likely be done. Congress has decided to let the intellectual spirit of the NNSA research labs wither away.
It appears to be mostly construction, cleanup and plant maintenance under Bechtel/BWXT for LANL's future. Some jobs may still be left, but the institution is slowly dieing in spirit under the conditions of an uncorrected (A) and (B).
5/26/09 12:07 PM
"I'm currently working on my PhD in physics in New Mexico. In light of the current economy, do you recommend doing a postDoc year or two? Moreover, is Los Alamos National Laboratory the right place for this? Thank you."
Sure, and perhaps consider applying to medical, dental or law school while you're doing that postdoc.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/30644766
Sure, and perhaps consider applying to medical, dental or law school while you're doing that postdoc.
I second that. I recently had a student with a physics degree from one of the UC campuses who successfully applied for a high ranking medical school. Interdisciplinary education and approaches are key for success. It certainly helps, for example, to understand EEG and/or MRI data with a background in signal processing.
"You just sound like a bitter person with some personal agenda."
Oooh, you got me there! In fact, I specifically collaborated with the C&EN reporter to extract the most glaringly ungracious comments from Hollingsworth's lengthy interview, just because I wanted to make her look like an ass.
Bwah ha ha haaaa!!
""You just sound like a bitter person with some personal agenda."
Oooh, you got me there! In fact, I specifically collaborated with the C&EN reporter to extract the most glaringly ungracious comments from Hollingsworth's lengthy interview, just because I wanted to make her look like an ass.
Bwah ha ha haaaa!!
5/27/09 2:52 PM"
Give it up already! You are the only one that looks like an ass.
One of the reasons that I agreed to do the Comment of the Week feature here after a 3 1/2 year layoff from LANL blogging was that I find the trends at LANL interesting. Fascinating, even. When I started the original LANL blog in 2004, there were approximately 3,000 more staff at LANL than today.
Not coincidentally, in my subjective opinion, the overall quality of blog comment contributions back then was much higher than it is today, with 8:41pm and 2:52pm from this post being good examples of the tendency towards mediocrity on the blog, and presumably at LANL as well.
This should come as no great surprise, I suppose, given the observable decrease in the quality of management demonstrated by the new, expensive LLC that now runs LANL. PBI's baby! Wear shoes that GRIP! Bump that overhead rate up to where *nobody* can afford to have LANL work on their projects!
Don't misunderstand me:UC did an abysmal job of running LANL, especially during the last 20 years of their tenure. That's why they lost the contract. But LANS, LLC is to all outward appearances doing much, much worse.
Let's not forget that LANL is still home to some intelligent, hard-working staff. It's true -- I'm lucky to have occasional opportunities to still work with some of them. But the trend is definitely down, in terms of overall quality. You see it on the blog here, you see it in the workplace.
Just a few random thoughts. I will be interesting, and telling to see where LANL is in another 3 years..
--Doug
"I will be interesting, and telling to see where LANL is in another 3 years." (Doug)
The trend is downward and the slope is beginning to steepen. Any scientists still left at LANL who can't acknowledge this fact are in a state of denial. The C level students have taken over the place. Thinking about where LANL will be 3 years from today under LANS and NNSA mis-management will give you nightmares. I suggest you don't even go there.
However, on the bright side, I hear that ORNL is currently looking to hire an additional 1000 employees. There are bright spots within the DOE complex, just not at the NNSA labs of LANL and LLNL. Funding, job security, and salaries are going to be very good at most of the DOE energy labs over this next decade. These labs also don't appear to subscribe to the idea of outrageous FTE costs and implementing work free safety zones. In addition to this, their managements are run by non-profit institutions that seem to actually care about the science.
Don't plan on having much of a long term career if you work at the two beaten down labs of LANL or LLNL. I'm sure Mike will get his much hoped for 5% attrition rate for this next year with no problems. If he doesn't reach that NNSA goal, then layoffs will probably be in the works. Most of that 5% attrtion, however, will be coming from the "best & brightest" who will finally give up on LANS and leave for better managed and more financially secure scientific institutions.
If you do stay at LANL be sure to wear shoes that GRIP (!) and always remember... it's all about PBIs, baby! This is no joke, but the honest truth of today's LANL. ;-(
Much like the children of Lake Wobegon, all of the comments were above average when Doug was in charge of the blog!
Or... were they? Let's relive some of the witty repartee from the final days of LANL The Real Story:
"Oooohhhh!
A Fellow's whitepaper!
I'm all moist.
# posted by Finknottle : 6/12/2006 07:00:00 PM
Finknottle, you NASTY boy! You deserve a HIDIN'!
Those moist white papers the Fellows laid down may well have been part of my trainin'.
# posted by Pat, the Dog : 6/12/2006 08:11:00 PM
Brilliant, Dave. A whitepaper. That will fix everything. Good work by you and the rest of the fellows. You guys take the rest of the day off. I'll sleep well tonight.
BTW, an off-the-wall question: have you ever done anything real? You know: like in the real world?
A whitepaper. Christ on a cracker. No wonder LANL is in the dumper.
# posted by Roderick Spode : 6/12/2006 09:18:00 PM
Well you might want to check out the paper and what is happening before you open your mouth.
# posted by David : 6/12/2006 09:47:00 PM"
Ah, yes. Those were the days, back when Dave Forslund and the Fellows' white paper were going to save the lab; make everything all better.
Even the mere suggestion that a stupid, mundane, empty Fellows white paper would make a gnat's ass worth of difference at LANL, then or now, is ludicrous.
Some things like the Fellows and their white papers, and LANS and their Anastasio deserve the derision they receive.
But 3:49PM, you have to understand. Even if these comments may not reflect the brilliance and analytic wit of the genius bloggers, but at least none of them were anonymous, or were they? I am confused. Finknottle, Pat the Dog? Doug for sure would know ...
What happens in Anonymous, stays in Anonymous.
Shoe's comfortable when it fits, eh?
I wouldn't know: I go barefoot most of the time, working out of my home office.
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