Under The Stars October 2016

uts@starmanet.com

5 participants
9 discussions

Columbia and Snake Rivers Voyage | National Geographic Expeditions
by Effie in the desert 24 Oct '16

24 Oct '16

When I drove through the gorge yesterday I saw a large ship docked in The Dalles. It looked like a "tiny" cruise ship. All I could read on it as I passed it was National Geographic. I looked it up today and found this link. People are paying thousands of dollars to see what we have in our backyard. I had no idea. http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/expeditions/columbia-snake-riv…

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Investigator claims 'UFO wreckage' is evidence aliens visited the Earth 250, 000 years ago
by Chucksim 21 Oct '16

21 Oct '16

Either it's for real, or something terribly wrong with their dating process. I thought you might be interested in this article Investigator claims 'UFO wreckage' is evidence aliens visited the Earth 250,000 years ago. The discovery of an ancient piece of aluminium is being hailed as evidence that aliens visited Earth 250,000 years ago. Sent via the Fox News App. Download the app here. Sent from my iPhone on the beach

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Interesting quote from "Snape: A Definitive Reading"
by Chucksim 20 Oct '16

20 Oct '16

Ran across this book on Amazon, and immediately thought of Effie (duh!). Forwarding just in case you're unaware of it. "Introduction: The Magnificence of Severus Snape The Harry Potter series may be named after the Boy Who Lived, but if you want to know the story, keep your eyes fixed on Snape. This hook-nosed, greasy-haired, grumpy character is one of J.K. Rowling’s enduring gifts to English literature. He’s the archetypal ill-tempered teacher: acerbic, yet horribly, deliciously funny. When he’s in a scene, you can’t take your eyes off him. Snape is always the story. In Snape, Rowling created a character of almost perfect ambiguity, a double agent who rose to become the right-hand man of both generals on opposing sides of a war. He’s at once self-controlled and seething with bitterness. Every sentence, every action has at least two possible and contradictory interpretations. The question of Snape’s true loyalties is at the heart of the books’ mysteries. Is it possible, ever, to know what lies underneath his façade? It is. With a close look at each of the books, everything about Snape becomes knowable." Start reading it for free: http://amzn.to/2e3X1UT -------- Download Kindle for Android, iOS, PC, Mac and more http://amzn.to/1r0LubW

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Different view
by Effie in the desert 16 Oct '16

16 Oct '16

Two weeks ago Monday I drove up to Mt. Rainier. The mountain was in the clouds. This past Monday, the 10th, I went up there again. At 1:30 the mountain was visible. By 3:00 when I was up at the same place I'd been the prior week, it was gone. The third picture is at 4:00pm today taken from the webcam. https://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm#CP_JUMP_636381

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The Hardest Job
by Effie in the desert 12 Oct '16

12 Oct '16

Hi all, That's the title of the new Harry Potter story I just finished posting on fanfiction.net and archiveofourown.org I started it in May of 2010. I wouldn't want to rush into anything, right?. This story is about 33,000 words. The other one, which I started in September of 2010 is at 224,000 words and no where near done. I don't know if I'll live long enough to finish it. :) Effie

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Re: [UTS] News
by Todd Andrews 08 Oct '16

08 Oct '16

Thanks everyone for your excellent info, but more so for your wonderful support. It will take me a while to process it all. I want to research some of the suggestions before replying more fully. Thanks again! On Oct 7, 2016 1:01 AM, "Todd Andrews" <starman(a)pobox.com> wrote: Hi all, Within the last few weeks my neck spasms have gotten significantly worse such that I cut back from a four hour workday to one hour. And then a week or two after that I heard from one of my co-workers (not management!) that the company I work for was bought out by another company. I had a phone interview with the new company president on a Mon, which I thought went pretty well even after telling him I was 20 hours a week and on disability and only recently switched to a five hour week. The following Fri of that same week the new president said he would not be offering me a job at the new company. Six of us (three programmers, two admin staff, one project manager), including me, were laid off. We got the no-hire decision that Fri and within about two hours our (six) phones were disconnected and our logins were disabled (no more access to company servers, including no more email). We didn't even get to finish our work day they moved so swiftly. We barely had time to let the rest of our co-workers know and to wish them well. No severance pay. There didn't even seem to be a plan for final checks for accrued vacation until a couple of us spoke up. Chuck, I'm curious how it has been for the companies you worked for when it came to agreements not to compete. I signed one when I started with this company about five years ago. It basically says that if I go to work for a client within a year of not working for the company that the client must pay my employer half of my yearly salary. Do employees get released from this when the company technically doesn't exist anymore? The six of us were laid off the day before the new company officially took over. I've already been offered a part time job by one of the clients but I told them about the agreement not to compete. My former employer, in prior years, has made two or three exceptions to this and employees were able to work for clients without paying 50% of their annual salary. Is there a "norm" for this kind of policy? -Todd

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News
by Todd Andrews 07 Oct '16

07 Oct '16

Hi all, Within the last few weeks my neck spasms have gotten significantly worse such that I cut back from a four hour workday to one hour. And then a week or two after that I heard from one of my co-workers (not management!) that the company I work for was bought out by another company. I had a phone interview with the new company president on a Mon, which I thought went pretty well even after telling him I was 20 hours a week and on disability and only recently switched to a five hour week. The following Fri of that same week the new president said he would not be offering me a job at the new company. Six of us (three programmers, two admin staff, one project manager), including me, were laid off. We got the no-hire decision that Fri and within about two hours our (six) phones were disconnected and our logins were disabled (no more access to company servers, including no more email). We didn't even get to finish our work day they moved so swiftly. We barely had time to let the rest of our co-workers know and to wish them well. No severance pay. There didn't even seem to be a plan for final checks for accrued vacation until a couple of us spoke up. Chuck, I'm curious how it has been for the companies you worked for when it came to agreements not to compete. I signed one when I started with this company about five years ago. It basically says that if I go to work for a client within a year of not working for the company that the client must pay my employer half of my yearly salary. Do employees get released from this when the company technically doesn't exist anymore? The six of us were laid off the day before the new company officially took over. I've already been offered a part time job by one of the clients but I told them about the agreement not to compete. My former employer, in prior years, has made two or three exceptions to this and employees were able to work for clients without paying 50% of their annual salary. Is there a "norm" for this kind of policy? -Todd

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(no subject)
by Effie in the desert 05 Oct '16

05 Oct '16

I got this today when I went to Mt. Rainier.

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Disappeared
by Effie in the desert 04 Oct '16

04 Oct '16

How long does it take for the mountain to disappear? The amount of time it takes for for the cell phone to come on. It was covered in fog when I arrived. I was inside the visitor center watching the video. When I came out of the theater the mountain was about half visible. This is all that was left when the phone was ready. I didn't go up there expecting to see it. The trick was about the geology on the road.

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Under The Stars October 2016