Concordantly, you are the eventuality of an anomaly

Does this article scare you as much as it scares me?

The gist is that some R&D group in IBM is charged with "building predictive models of their own colleagues" to optimize their deployment.

Two Three A few quick thoughts:

• This type of analysis relies on a complete, or at least fairly consistent, data set.
  
  
• This encourages the type of work process that requires real-time digitizing of our accomplishments, communications, and relationships
  
  
• I'm all for documentation, but do you have any idea how fucking annoying that would be?
  
  It would be like rewarding that douchebag that always CC's half the office, or the ditz that keeps clicking "Reply To All". You know, SEO and all that jazz.
  
  
• Then again, with the growth and popularity of social networks and smart phones, the possibility of this reality may happen sooner rather than later.
  
  
• The commoditisating of people and use of fuzzy quantified metrics as decision making tools instead of decision support tools leaves me with chills.
  
  
• Here's to hoping Big Blue incorporates a blue pill / red pill option in their grand computer model.

The Consulting Mantra

Now it may be because I'm a bit of a closet hippie, but this concerns me:

Obama opposes Bush endangered species proposal

Yes, I'm concerned how seven of the top ten Google results for endangered species proposal deal with Obama's opposition. Why must every political story revolve around this Magical Negro? And if he is the magical negro in this story, isn't his role to support the other, White, presidential candidate? You know, Paris.

Also of note is how the Bush proposal gives federal agencies the responsibility to evaluate the environmental impact of their own projects. Who needs an independent scientific review? Scientists are nerds.

Apparently this was a great success the last time they tried it:

In 2003, the administration imposed similar rules that ... allowed agencies to approve new pesticides and projects to reduce wildfire risks without asking the opinion of government scientists

... internal reviews by the National Marine Fisheries Service and Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that about half the unilateral evaluations that determined wildfire prevention projects were unlikely to harm protected species were not legally or scientifically valid.

Retrieved 2008/08/20 from
AP IMPACT: Bush to relax protected species rules

Why the change? Efficiency.

In recent years, both federal agencies and developers have complained that the reviews, which can result in changes to projects that better protect species, have delayed work and increased costs.

Maybe the way to decrease delays and have realistic cost projections is by incorporating a valid environmental impact analysis in the initial proposal and design, not brushing said concerns to the side.

Oh, I'm just being silly.

I forgot the Consulting mantra: On-time; on-budget; high-quality. Pick two. Or don't, whatever. Just let me know when my expense account is set up, I'll be at the strip joint next door. Don't worry, I'll ask for a receipt.

paris-hilton-yogen-fruz-frozen-yogurt-0609
Photo Originally uploaded by
pressroom