August 19, 2003

Shrinking company

Damn, I still haven't found time to transfer my article from paper to blog, don't know why. I apologize.

Back at work my windows-computer didn't boot from hibernate, a normal boot resulted in BSOD. "inaccessible boot device"... Luckily a chkdsk run in repair console fixed the problem.

Then while diggin' through the mountain of mails I found out that three employees were fired, other three have left us on their own will and one was saved by works committee. What the heck is going on here? We hardly have enough resources to keep up with the incoming work not to speak from improving our products. Don't they realize, that they remove the hard gathered knowledge base from the company?
I'm way off of getting fired (I'm the last remaining core developer in my area) but it's a strange feeling that many other co-workers could be gone tomorrow. I'm still remembering the statement from shortly before my vacation: "... retirements were necessary, but are over now...". Crap. Hot air. "Marketing nonsense".
Side note: We are going through a economizing and reduction wave now for almost a year and the effect on our company's statistics: zero, nada, nothing. They even have degraded slightly. Doesn't surprise me, the remaining people are, if ever, hardly able to compensate the reductions.

On the other side, my girlfriend has carried her computer over to my place and we are playing a bit over network when I come home from work. Worms, Starcraft, Tetrinet and so on. Much fun for me, but she constantly gets better in all the games ;)
At least at home there is some relaxing.

August 7, 2003

US executive orders for Iraqi oil

Do you want to get juristic immune to practically everything? Then get access to oil in Iraq!
As said in Executive Order 13303 everything which has somehow to do with Iraqi oil gets practically invulnerable to justice (Section 1b). The Bush administration tries to push US companies into the Iraqi oil-market and now these companies are immune to everything? They could break human rights and couldn't be punished. An ecological accident could cause huge damage to the environment and nobody would be responsible for it.
Well, they could even intentionally harm people if it would happen in conjunction wit the production of oil products. I may be a bit paranoid, but I don't think that it is a good idea to set some companies free from the law. Any other paranoid thoughts out there?

Lazyness note...

I'm back but still off from work for another week. Another small article is being prepared but I don't know when I'm not too lazy to type it up.