Bringing in a lawyer is going to be like adding a turd in the punch bowl...

Everyone is going to come out of this with a bad taste in their mouths...

I worked for a group once that hated everything I suggested and then did it anyway. Could I get credit for it? No. I was an 'outsider'. I wasn't 'part of the group'. Nothing would change that and getting a lawyer involved would have been disasterous because of the high degree of polarization it would have done. Mentioning the word 'lawyer' is sometimes enough to freak the crap out of any group because it usually means (Catholic churches excepted) that large amounts of money are deverted from the 'core purpose' and people rarely forget, or forgive such actions...

Use as a last resort. A 'nuclear option' of sorts.

Change your name... Yah... That makes sense... Your name is your tied to your reputation. You have to defend it when it's being attacked but you have to choose your attack very carefully... Having threatened to sue them might work, but that bad taste thing is hard to shake... 'Oh, he tried to sue us' will go farther to ruin your career than a lot of other things you could have done... But it is true that many non profits tend to be like children and are filled with 'do gooders' that don't tend to play fair or well with others. This could be a 'growing up moment' for them. My experience has been that groups like that don't want to grow up... Be careful... Be wise...

I was recently horrified to read an article about the research being done to 'make' cows that are 'mad' proof...

In other words cows/cattle that are immune to the prions that cause 'mad cow' disease...

To my layman's mind I consider the idea of creating a cow that is immune to the disastrous effects of being force fed the remains of it's own kind as ludicrous as making a canary that is immune to the toxic effects of carbon monoxide...

Imagine if cows were already immune to the effects of the prions that cause 'mad cow'. How long would it have taken to find the cause of the disastrous and insidious disease that killed so many humans...

I remember a line in Jurassic Park, ironically from the naysayer of global warming: (paraphrased poorly) No one ever asked why, all they did was create the process to do it but never stopped to ask if they should...

But it's probably way to late to stop the creap of 'inventions' that will pour out of this Pandora's box...

Ironic that some of us fear a 'dirty' bomb or another terrorist attack when what we should be fearing is the evolution of the genetic frankensteins that the minions slaving to drag the carriage of greed and ignorance create in their quest for the next great 'invention' when what they are is gross tinkerers in the vast and complicated system of nature... You can't fool Mother Nature and it's not wise to fuck around on her either... She always wins in the end...

Arrrgggg...

I've always liked reading about aviation. It's probably the one thing that I wished I had gone into...

It's interesting to read about the colour shemes of the different airlines and the 'inside dope' on what's been and is in this industry...

I've flown Northwest flights with trash on the floor and broken seats and an overall 'railroad' mentality... Flying used to have a mystique about it, a romanticism that is being bled out of the industry in America. Instead we are left with feelings of being herded like cattle from dull and filthy tube to dull and filthy tube by peopple doing their best under extreme circumstances while being squeezed for every dime that we carry...

(The only thing missing is the old pay toilets from my first experience flying. Nothing sets you up for a rough flight then when having to crawl under a door to pee because the terminal had pay toilets... Oh crap. I might have given a CEO an idea... Pay toilets on planes?)

I always wanted to fly in the Concorde and never did. I would love to fly Virgin or UAE or Singapore airlines but probably will never be given the opportunity.

When I see the conditions that people are faced with flying in America and what the pilots and attendants are forced to deal with I'm reminded of that old Wendy's commercial with the Soviet era beauty contest where the rotund women are paraded by in the same outfits with the only addition being a flashlight for the 'evening wear' portion...

In a time with 'made for the masses' tripe and political leaders flaunting their power and crimes against America, 'fair and balanced' coverage of some new scandal, it's nice to slip into the romantic and mystical world of aviation.

I had no idea that there were places in the ceilings for crew to hang out... Cool...

Keep up the good work... (Oh, and the treadmill article sparked many heated and lengthy debates at this end of the keyboard. Some people's trash is someone elses treasure. So United treats their employees like their customers? Wow...) 'Ask the pilot' is what I look for first on Fridays...