"I don't know."
"I can't."
"I was out sick/on vacation."
"What can we do?"
"It's impossible."
"I'm having lunch."
"There is no money."
Those are just some of the 27 phrases you are not allowed to say in Meggion, Siberia, some 1500 miles northeast of Moscow....well, in the mayor's office, anyway. Rumor has it that if you are caught using any of the 27 phrases that it will hasten your 'departure' from the job.
Mayor Alexander Kuzmin had kinda gotten his 'fill' of excuses from employees and wanted to redirect their efforts into solving the major problems in the town, namely that of adequate housing. Theirs is a rich oil-based town, with a population explosion that has superceded local resources, including financial ones. He simply wanted to get workers off their 'no can do' duffs and put their efforts on producing workable solutions to the issues at hand.
Too, the mayor takes personally such things as being late for a meeting or giving him wrong or misguided information, and sees that as an attempt to undermine his directives. Tough love, mayoral style.
If you think about it, sometimes it takes such radical ideas to drive valid points home. There are no problems, just opportunities for creative solutions...seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty (either way, if you're a male, you'll more than likely not see it at all and let it sit for days on the coffee table...).
---------------------------
Felix is now depressed...er, I mean, is a depression over land in Central America. Henriette beaned Cabo San Lucas and will send remnants into the U.S. via New Mexico. There is still a Gabrielle-wanna-be off the Southeast coast in the Atlantic that we're all eyeing. And here in the Carolinas it's hot and dry, dry, dry. While there is still a strong cold front slated to be here by Monday, the latest model run has nothing more than a 20% chance for precipitation on any given day for the next 8. ***SIGH***
----------------------------
Well, tomorrow is Thursday, which means more pretty pictures in my weekly Travelogue segment. And just where will I take you?
I don't know.
"I can't."
"I was out sick/on vacation."
"What can we do?"
"It's impossible."
"I'm having lunch."
"There is no money."
Those are just some of the 27 phrases you are not allowed to say in Meggion, Siberia, some 1500 miles northeast of Moscow....well, in the mayor's office, anyway. Rumor has it that if you are caught using any of the 27 phrases that it will hasten your 'departure' from the job.
Mayor Alexander Kuzmin had kinda gotten his 'fill' of excuses from employees and wanted to redirect their efforts into solving the major problems in the town, namely that of adequate housing. Theirs is a rich oil-based town, with a population explosion that has superceded local resources, including financial ones. He simply wanted to get workers off their 'no can do' duffs and put their efforts on producing workable solutions to the issues at hand.
Too, the mayor takes personally such things as being late for a meeting or giving him wrong or misguided information, and sees that as an attempt to undermine his directives. Tough love, mayoral style.
If you think about it, sometimes it takes such radical ideas to drive valid points home. There are no problems, just opportunities for creative solutions...seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty (either way, if you're a male, you'll more than likely not see it at all and let it sit for days on the coffee table...).
---------------------------
Felix is now depressed...er, I mean, is a depression over land in Central America. Henriette beaned Cabo San Lucas and will send remnants into the U.S. via New Mexico. There is still a Gabrielle-wanna-be off the Southeast coast in the Atlantic that we're all eyeing. And here in the Carolinas it's hot and dry, dry, dry. While there is still a strong cold front slated to be here by Monday, the latest model run has nothing more than a 20% chance for precipitation on any given day for the next 8. ***SIGH***
----------------------------
Well, tomorrow is Thursday, which means more pretty pictures in my weekly Travelogue segment. And just where will I take you?
I don't know.
2 comments:
i have a general question about the accuracy of weather forecasts. i have noticed several times now during august/september that a 5-7 day forecast showed rain (scattered, islolated, whatever). then as those days came closer, the forecast was changed several times until days that were supposed to be cool and rainy turned out hot and dry. are there some statistics you could send me that quantifies the accuracy of 5, 6, 7 forecasts. my feeling tells me this has got to be in the 50% range, like flipping a coin. let me know if i have something here or if i am totally wrong. respond to palex19@hotmail.com
thanks
I personally have little faith in long-term forecasts...if the 5-7 day outlook were correct 50% of the time, that in itself would be a victory. Even working within a 2-day frame it can be tough given the scores of factors that 'make weather'...and when you go out several days, it's like multiplying the 'change' factor instead of adding it. No magic numbers to share with you, no fixes, just hopefully more productive algorithms get developed to handle the accuracy issue. In fact flipping a coin might even work better!!
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