To add insult to injury, I wonder if it was a no bid contract?
For anybody who thinks "18 million" is "pocket change," how about this bid: For ONE Million, I'll start working on TransparentAccounting.org again, hire a team of four other developers (making the team total FIVE including myself), pay each of the four $210,000 for a yearly salary, and account for the differences between their pay an mine for a whole entire year.
No, you are right. The reason the Pacific Ocean floor is newer is because it's still actively growing quickly as the surrounding plates move away. So while the Atlantic is newer than the Pacific, the *floor* of the Pacific is generally newer than the floor of the Atlantic. So, in a sense, the parent was correct, but only in a limited sense.
Yes, I did mean the Atlantic coast of the US is older than the west coast / Pacific Rim of Fire side.
I also think it could be reasonably hypothesized that on the Atlantic coast, the gradual slope of the continental shelf / slope / rise could be explained by a longer time period of waves lapping the sediments and such into finer and finer particles. Perhaps explaining how quickly the continents have been drifting apart.
East-coast (of the US) sand is also generally much more fine-grained than west-coast sand, at least south of the glacial areas of the Great Lakes.
The Pacific Ocean is geologically much more new and deeper than the Atlantic side, which has a much more gradual slope on the continental shelf / continental slope / continental rise subduction system between continents. So we know the Atlantic is older.
Another fun (dynamic) map showing some actual geologic and volcanic activity:
The Olympics last year were what motivated me to attempt to do the TV thing . . . so I found a very small set and got some rabbit ears. It was pleasantly surprising to discover the dual nature of the channel settings available . . . the old analog signal is still full of snow and noise while the digital airwaves really are better than cable. Channels are a little bit longer (e.g. KQED is 09-003, needs to be manually entered with the dash and all. Best of all, no monthly cable bill!
It's likely that the cable / satellite television industry is going to take a hard hit once people figure out that the can get clarity without paying for ridiculous "service contracts" and "package deals" and "bundles".
Fact check (I dug up the old email; apologies to Nasa Ames Research). It was actually with Lockheed Martin.
Here is the job description:
Responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining PC, Macintosh and Linux/Unix, workstations for Lockheed Martin at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. Ideal candidates will have recent experience working in a large corporate or government IT environment. Work consists of Tier 2 support providing using desk side, telephone and remote access to assist end users in resolving computer related issues. Candidate should have experience working with systems an Active Directory and familiar with various LAN configurations. Efficient troubleshooting skills and resolving problems with little or no documentation are a must. The ability to produce detailed problem descriptions and keep extensive notes must be shown on a daily basis. Position requires shift flexibility and may include night, weekend or holiday work when scheduled. Move computer related equipment up to 50lbs. Required to pass government background check.
Required Skills:
Bachelor Degree in related field or equivalent
Excellent verbal and written communication
High technical proficiency in:
MS Windows XP/2000, OS X, Linux, UNIX, MS Word, MS Outlook, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Entourage, , Active Directory, Palm Desktop, Mozilla, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Safari and MS Remote Desktop Working knowledge of TCP/IP networking, SSH.
Desired Skills;
Technical proficiency in:
SMS, NFS, Perl, Unix shell scripting, Remedy, MS Access, Eudora, Informed Filler, Cisco VPN, Timbuktu, Tivoli, SAP, WebEx, Oracle Calendar, Thunderbird, Windows 2003 Server, Symantec Ghost
Since Microsoft is the most common OS. I would imagine the hurdle here would be to find people who know the rest of the software. I'm sure that is why they interviewed me.
Nowhere in the job description does it say anything about needing to own a car.
SO interesting about the Google doc version is that I don't recall it having so many references to MS products.
I guess since it was a government-type job, and recruiters were involved, somebody got paid for the interview. Unfortunately, that person was not me.
Man is an animal that makes bargains: no other animal does this-- no dog exchanges bones with another. -- Adam Smith
